Trench dug on Hyderabad road swallows man

HYDERABAD: A man fell into a storm water-filled trench, dug by Manikonda civic authorities for laying a drain, and got swept away at Neknampur during heavy downpour on Saturday night.
Despite a 24-hour rescue effort, authorities failed to locate the person, who is now feared dead.
The person is suspected to be a 42-year-old techie who had stepped out of his home for a smoke.The shocking incident was accidentally captured by a person making a video of the rain and the flooded Puppalaguda-Neknampur stretch.
Around 9pm on Saturday, the man, who had pulled his pants up, was seen walking on the edge of the road, wading through ankle-deep water, as seen in the video.
After walking for a few yards, unaware there was a trench, he fell into the gushing water, which swept him away. The whole incident was captured on a phone camera by a person, who was making a video.
Cyberabad police suspect the missing person could be a software engineer, who stayed in the neighbourhood. Though officials claim the area was barricaded, there were no visible signs of any barricades in the video and the man could easily access the area, leading to his fatal fall.
Meanwhile, a married woman came on to the road in search of her husband, who went out for a smoke. On seeing a large number of people gathered at the open drain, she came to know that a man got washed away in the drain. After seeing the video and based on the shirt colour, she strongly suspected the victim was her husband, a software engineer who works in a company at Shadnagar.
Disaster Response Force (DRF) of GHMC and other agencies, including police, immediately launched a search operation in Punjanbagh and Ibrahim Cheruvu and other catchment areas. A missing case was registered by local police.
Manikonda municipal commissioner S Jayanth said they were still searching for the person. Speaking to TOI, he said that they had barricaded the drain work in the locality and added that the work got delayed due to Ganesh festival.
“The work started about two months ago. It has been delayed by two weeks because of the Ganesh festival. We have barricaded the area. Chances are that after falling in the drain, he might have got swept away towards Ibrahim Cheruvu and Musi,” Jayanth said, adding that work will be completed in the next 20 days.