60-year-old dies after falling into overflowing drainage in Kerala’s Kozhikode

The drainage at Kovoor in Kozhikode where a 60-year-old man died on Sunday
| Photo Credit: K. RAGESH

A 60-year old man died after falling into an overflowing drainage at Kovoor in Kozhikode city in Kerala on Sunday (March 16) night. The victim was identified as Sasi. His body was recovered after a 10-hour long search by various rescue squads on Monday morning.

According to police sources, the man fell into the drainage while walking towads a waiting shelter near his house at Kovoor around 8.30 p.m. It was heavily raining and the whole area was submerged in stormwater, which hit the rescue operations, they said.

Though the local residents and fire and rescue services guards carried out extensive search in the area on Sunday night, there was no hope. Around three-kilometre area had been covered during the search.

Demand for railings

Local residents alleged that their demand to construct protective railings along the drainage or other safety measures were ignored by the authorities.

According to them, the bus waiting shelter was also constructed in an unscientific way along the drainage. They also claimed that there were similar incidents in the past in which many had a close shave.