As anxiety looms, slush poses challenge to rescue ops

CHENNAI: It was another day of anxious wait for the families of Jayaseelan and Naresh, who are yet to be rescued from the 60-feet trench on Five Furlong Road, where they were trapped since Monday (Dec 4) morning. The families also expressed their anger as the government has not held the construction firm, Green Tech Structural Constructions, responsible for the mishap.

The duo were trapped in the trench after the land caved in bringing down the makeshift container office of the construction site, a bus shelter and a portion of the floor of the fuel outlet adjoining the trench following heavy rains on Monday.

While R Jayaseelan (32), an assistant electrical engineer with Green Tech, was in the container office, which had a sixty feet fall at the time, Naresh (21) was working at the LPG fuel station. The continuous downpour and the flow of water in the streets led to the trench being quickly filled with water up to road level.

“My husband was made to work on Monday by his employers. Why has there been no action on them yet,” cried S Manju, wife of Jayaseelan. The pregnant woman had stayed put at a platform opposite the site since Monday.

While the private Engineering firm, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), bolstered the de-watering operations with over 50-feet of water being pumped out from the pond-sized trench since Wednesday night, the last stage proved to be a struggle despite the use of high-end machines.

An engineer with L&T said that they have deployed two electrical submersible pumps in addition to manpower.

“There is still about ten-feet of slush that we are finding difficult to pump out before our rescue swimmers could reach the container,” said a senior official with Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS).

TNFRS Director, Director General of Police, Abhash Kumar, said that they have deployed 12 divers and rescue swimmers at the scene.

Meanwhile, the anxiety of the family members, who were at the spot awaiting answers since Monday, were further heightened as authorities raised a safety net outside the site on Wednesday night.

“It is for safety purposes. Experts said that there is a chance of the road to cave in due to the use of heavy machinery and we did not want onlookers to crowd the site,” said an officer with the Guindy police.

However, the measure gave way to talks among onlookers about whether it was to avoid being transparent.

Police Sources said that there were agitations by the families which was hindering work, forcing the move.

A senior police officer with Chennai Police said that they have registered a FIR on a man missing complaint for now and sections will be altered later based on the family’s complaint.

Meanwhile, rescue workers, DT Next spoke to, said that they could sense the decomposed smell of the human body, but are still keeping their fingers crossed.