ATTINGAL: Grief filled the countryside of Ilamba as news spread about the death of fire force officer Soni S Kumar (36) in Neduvathoor. Soni died early on Monday morning after the handrail of an 80-foot deep well collapsed while on a rescue mission.

The large crowd that attended the public viewing and funeral ceremony in Ilamba was proof of Soni's acceptance and camaraderie in his locality. After the postmortem and public viewing at the Kottarakkara Fire Station, the body was brought to Ilamba at 2:30 in the afternoon. The body was brought home in a mourning procession accompanied by several vehicles, including Soni’s colleagues, relatives, locals and public representatives. Hundreds of people paid their last respects at the public viewing held at the Ilamba Gov. HSS.

Soni arrived at the Kottarakkara fire station for duty at 9 am on Sunday. The duty time was till 9 am on Monday. The work started when the rains were heavy on Sunday evening. At 5 pm, he received a phone call that a house had caught fire in the Ayoor area. Soni and his team immediately reached Ayoor, completed the work and returned to the office.

He spoke to his wife, Aswathi and daughter, Hridya, on the phone for a while. Meanwhile, at 8:30 pm, he received a report that a tree had fallen on a bike in the Karikkom area of ​​Kottarakkara. By the time he reached there after cutting down the tree and removing the traffic obstruction, the next call came that rainwater was rising in the Inchakad area of ​​Mylam. He was able to return from there late at night.

While returning, the team received a report that a young woman had jumped into a well at Neduvathoor. Soni and his team left the vehicle there without entering the fire station. The team, led by Senior Fire and Rescue Officer Hariraj, included Soni, Jayakrishnan, Radhakrishna Pillai and Sufail, headed for the mission.

When they reached Archana's house in Anakottoor, Jayakrishnan was ready to take the duty when Soni volunteered to enter the well. He reached down and put Archana in the net and started lifting her. By the time they reached a height of seven feet, the side wall of the well collapsed into them.

V Sasi MLA, OS Ambika MLA, local self-government heads, high-ranking fire force officials and others also came to pay their last respects. The body was then brought home and cremated after a public viewing. Soni was the eldest son of the Sreekumar-Lalitha couple near Ilamba High School. He joined the job in January 2016. Soni’s first assignment was in Eloor, Ernakulam. He was currently in Kottarakkara. Soni's wife, Ashwathi, is a physical education teacher at Navaikulam Government Higher Secondary School. His daughter is Hridya (2).

Soni’s sister Simi was about to leave for the UK on Monday. Soni, a soft-spoken and generous man, was admired by locals in his hometown. Soni was an executive member of the PSC study group at the library in Ilamba, trying to guide the youth of the locality towards the goal of government jobs. It was three years ago that Soni built his house, turning one of his big dreams come true.