72 hours & counting, duo lost in trench yet to be pulled out
Authorities have been caught unaware, unable to pump out water from the trench, now resembling a medium-sized pond, making the family members miffed
Jayaseelan’s pregnant wife Manju with family members have been at the site since tragedy struck
CHENNAI: Despite a cyclone warning and an advisory from the government to declare a holiday on Monday, private contractor Green Tech Structural Constructions had asked workers to report for duty at their under-construction site on Five Furlong Road, Velachery, where at least two persons including the company’s electrical engineer have been trapped - submerged under water for more than 72 hours in a 60 feet trench, as on Thursday.
The victims are R Jayaseelan, 32, an assistant electrical engineer with Green Tech and Naresh, 21, a staff at an auto LPG outlet adjacent to the trench. The land around the trench caved in, bringing down a bus shelter and a portion of the floor of the LPG fuel outlet adjoining the trench.
While Jayaseelan was in the makeshift office, a container inside the trench, Naresh who fell into the pit after the cave-in, too, went near the container hoping help would arrive, according to the family members.
Jayaseelan’s pregnant wife, Manju and his family members have stayed put on a platform across the site, hoping against hope that the trapped men will be rescued alive.
“Do not refer to them as dead,” chided an elderly relative of Naresh, at his friend who was appealing for government intervention through the media to at least retrieve the dead bodies at the earliest to at least perform the last rites.
Authorities have been caught unaware, unable to pump out water from the trench, now resembling a medium-sized pond, making the family members miffed. A 12-storeyed building, the corporate office of a private firm was to come up at the site.
“It has been more than two days. No specialized equipment has been bought to rescue the trapped men. If it had been a prominent person or a top officer in the government or a politician, we all know that no efforts will be spared,” said Jayaseelan, brother-in-law of the trapped electrical engineer.
The trapped engineer’s wife, Manju, who was at their home in the TNHB colony, Velachery, realised that things were amiss when she first saw the visuals of his work site in the news, referring to an accident. “She was on a phone call with him when he was at the work site on Monday morning and the connection got off. She was under the assumption that there was an issue with the network, but when she saw the visuals on TV, she wanted to go to the site immediately. We have been waiting since then,” Jayaseelan’s brother-in-law told DT Next.
Naresh, the fuel station staff had worked continuously for three shifts since Saturday and was to return home on Monday, before he fell into the trench as the floor caved in.
While local police and civic body workers have been trying their level best, the motor pumps used are not powerful enough to suck out the water. A team from Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) has also been at work attempting to pump out. NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) which made a rescue attempt on Monday and Tuesday, but discontinued the efforts on Wednesday.
“We have been running high capacity pumps for the past two days. We are hoping that we will be able to pump out the water by Thursday,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
If not for the presence of Chennai City Traffic Police personnel who were on cyclone rescue duty nearby, the number of persons trapped in the trench would have been even higher. “We used ropes to pull out three of them. It was raining continuously and after a point, it was beyond our area of expertise,” said a police officer.
Ministers Udhayanidhi Stalin and Ma Subramanian had visited the site on Tuesday night to oversee the rescue works, but as time passed on Wednesday, such visits failed to inspire hope in the families.
The deep pit dug for the 16-storey building into which the victims fell
Jayaseelan’s family have already filed a complaint with Guindy Police against his employers for ignoring cyclone warnings and summoning him for work. “He was just an employee, who is worried about job security. If he had not reported for work, there is always the possibility of him being reprimanded. No person from the company has come so far to contact the family. Is there no modern technology that can be used here for the rescue?” the brother-in-law told this newspaper.
DT Next attempted to reach Green Tech Structural Constructions over the phone, but both their phone numbers could not be reached.
