Worker dies as water gushes into pit

BHUBANESWAR:  In an unfortunate incident, a maintenance worker drowned in a pit in plain sight of a large number of people while repairing a pipeline at VSS Nagar on Wednesday. The worker Rudra Dora (26) from Digapahandi in Ganjam district was trapped in a sudden gush of water into the pit. The contractual worker was repairing a leak in the drinking water supply line of the Public Health Engineering Organisation in the area.

The locals said water is released into the pipeline at 5 am and 2 pm every day but on Wednesday it was released at about 1 pm. The worker’s hand got stuck in the pit while he was carrying out the repair work. Despite frantic attempts, he was not able to remove his hand and was trapped.

Around four to five persons who were present on site tried to rescue him but in vain. Locals also joined in and tried to flush out water from the pit using buckets but failed as the volume of water was enormous. The locals then alerted the Fire Service personnel and the police but by the time the rescue team arrived, Rudra had already succumbed.

“The locals made all-out efforts to save the man but the pit got filled up to the brim within moments. They had to withdraw as there was no way they could have dragged him out,” an eyewitness, Rama Chandra Das, said. Irate locals then went to Saheed Nagar police station and demanded action against the contractor and other officials of the drinking water supply project. Police recovered the body and sent it for postmortem. “A case of unnatural death has been registered and further investigation is on,” police said.