Drain claims child in shocking replay

Drain claims child in shocking replay
BARELY 4 MONTHS AFTER LITTLE ABHISHEK’S TRAGEDY
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Another small boy was swallowed by a killer storm water drain in Bangalore. Eighteen-month-old Vijay’s death on Wednesday morning comes barely four months after sixyear-old Abhishek was washed away in a drain, once again exposing the city’s decrepit infrastructure and the civic agency’s lack of preparedness to handle accidents caused by rain.
Vijay fell into an open drain at RR Layout, BTM IV Stage, and was washed away. After a gruelling 12-hour search in one of the dirtiest drains in the city, Fire Force personnel could not trace the baby. Search operations will resume on Thursday.
The tragedy occurred when Vijay and his cousins, Kanakaraj (10) and Kanakavali (7), were playing near their house. When Kanakaraj went to pluck the wild flowers that grew near the storm water drain, little Vijay, too, joined him but slipped and fell into the open drain. The flow of water in the drain was strong due to heavy rain and he drowned before others could save him. Vijay’s parents Lakshmi and Vardaraj were inconsolable. Vijay is their youngest child; elder son is Ajay(3). They hail from Tiruvannamalai. They have been residents of this layout for four years.
Braving the dirty water and the muck that had accumulated for years now, a team of 60 Fire Force personnel began manual search for little Vijay. The personnel commenced operations around 7.30 am. The cranes were used to open the channels, and they dug up the entire stretch and searched the drains. As the channel led to Madiwala lake, the search was extended to the lake.
At 6.45 pm, when the skies began to get dark, they suspended operations. Fire service officer Veerabhadraiah said their work had been made difficult as the Madiwala lake was big and the drains had not been cleaned for years. “Already four teams are searching the lake. There is a possibility that the boy got stuck in the drain,’’ he said.
M Ramakrishna, BBMP deputy commissioner, said: “We have been searching for Vijay since 7.30 am. But unfortunately the boy has not been found.”