Body of sanitation worker who went missing in canal recovered forty-six hours later

Kerala Fire and Rescue Services personnel during a search operation after a sanitation worker was swept away in rainwater while cleaning the Amayizhanchan canal in Thiruvananthapuram on July 13, 2024. His body was retrieved on July 15.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Forty-six hours after a sanitation worker went missing in the Amayizhanjan Canal in Thiruvananthapuram, a body believed to be that of the person was recovered downstream near Thakarapparambu on July 15 morning.

The body, caught in a pile of waste, was spotted by contingent workers of the city Corporation while an intensive joint search operation of the Indian Navy, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Fire and Rescue Services was ongoing upstream near the Railway Station.

The body was taken to the Government Medical College Hospital here.

Joy, 42, the sanitation worker who went missing, was put on the job by a private agency which was contracted by Railways to clean a section of the Amayizhanjan Canal, which passes through the railway property under the rails near the Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station.

For the past few days, three workers had been involved in the clean-up of a narrow, 140-metre-long section of the canal. As the rain intensified, the flow inside the canal increased, and Joy was unable to get out on time. Though the fellow workers attempted to rescue him initially with ropes, the efforts were not successful.

The search operations have been concentrated mostly on this short stretch under the assumption that it is unlikely that the body would pass through the constricted path filled with solidified waste.

The Fire department’s scuba diving team had by evening on July 14 managed to cover the entire stretch, pushing through the accumulated waste. A water flushing method was later used to push out the waste and recover the body, but the search operations had proved futile. 

The accident and the long search operation also cast an unflattering light on waste management systems and the lack of upkeep of canals and drains, clogged with legacy waste.