ALAPPUZHA: A cyclist met with a tragic end after falling into a pit taken across the road to build a culvert. The dead is Joy (50) of Kalarikkal Plak in Kommadi. The road was cut deeply but a warning sign was not placed and so Joy did not notice the pit on the road. People, who came this way saw Joy lying injured in the pit. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but his life could not be saved. Joy was a fisherman.

The road was cut for the construction of the culvert, at around 4 pm yesterday. Some of the locals demanded that a warning board be placed while the work was going on, but the concerned paid no heed to it. Locals and Joy's relatives alleged that the authorities later placed the warning board at the accident spot.

Many had lost lives earlier also in the same way. Minister Mohammad Riyas himself had admitted a lapse from the side of the public works department after a biker died falling into a pothole on the Aluva-Perumbavoor road in September last.