Joy not found; garbage obstructing rescue mission on second day too; camera-equipped robot brought in

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The intensive rescue operation to find labourer Joy, who went missing in Amayizhanchan Thodu during cleaning, was unsuccessful on the second day too.

The garbage that has accumulated over the years has become solid like a rock. It is concluded that Joy got swept under by the strong current of heavy rain. The second day of the mission was called off at 7:30 PM.

N Joy (45) of Marayamuttam and son of Neshamani and Mary became a victim of the tragedy on Saturday at eleven o'clock in the morning.

The rescue mission was resumed by the scuba team at six o'clock yesterday morning. The scuba team dived in from the direction Joy had drifted and on the opposite side of Powerhouse Road, but to no avail. Then the Genrobotics company's robot called Draco was brought down.

The camera-equipped robot went in about 15 meters. By noon the camera captured a large image. The scuba team got close, but it was only a sack full of garbage. The scuba team also went to the manhole of the third railway platform and searched for two hours. The search was terminated when the robot could not go any further.

The scuba team then pushed through the debris to within 40 meters of where Joy fell and 30 meters from the other side of the tunnel. They could not advance because the waste was too hard to be moved. Following this, Regional Fire Force Officer Abdul Rasheed and District Collector Geromic George decided that the waste can be pushed out by pressurizing the water using a jetting machine. By 4 pm, water was pressurized using a jetting machine in two manholes in the yard near the fourth platform. However, not much waste came out.

Jetting machine and check dam in action plan

It is concluded that Joy, who was under the pile of garbage in the tunnel during the strong current, got stuck there when the current subsided.

Pressure was applied to the flowing water using a jetting machine to get the waste out. It will continue today as well.

The water will be blocked today after building a check dam. It will be opened to create a strong current. It is hoped that the garbage will be washed out by this. This would allow the scuba team to go further in.