Day 2 of Vani Vihar drain rescue ops: Ragpicker still missing

Bhubaneswar: A day after a ragpicker went missing after falling into a drain near Vani Vihar here on Saturday around 4pm, there was no trace of him, even as multiple teams from three agencies, including fire services, are engaged in a marathon rescue operation.After a five-hour rescue exercise till late evening on Saturday went in vain, the operation resumed on Sunday with four teams from fire services deployed at as many locations, including the mouth of Gangua river.Assistant fire officer Manaranjan Rout said in nine hours of rescue exercise on Sunday, they didn’t find any trace of Anil Naik, 35, who had gone missing. “From Vani Vihar, we went up to the mouth of Gangua along the route of the drainage channel to see if he had been trapped somewhere.

Then we returned to the part of the drain near Vani Vihar, where he reportedly fell,” said Rout.Along with the fire services, police and drainage wing of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been searching for Naik, who was seen being swept away by the strong current of drain water. Naik was with another ragpicker to collect plastic items dumped in the drain culvert. The man, who was with Naik, tried to bring him out, but the strong current and waste trapped him, fire services personnel said.Officials said the Drain 10 had been barricaded, and was not unsafe until one went inside it. The BMC drainage division removed the barricade to carry out the rescue operation.