THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “Don't forget to switch the motor off," said Radhakrishnan while leaving his house for work at a nearby temple. Later, his body was found by Sumesh S, a newspaper agent at Pulli Lane, at 5.20 am.
The other victim who became prey to electrocution at the very lane, near Pettah, is Prasannakumari, who worked as a maid. With two deaths, a pall of gloom descended on the region on Monday.
"I was walking along Pulli Lane by 5.20 am. I saw a woman draped in saree lying on the water clogged road. On approaching further, I spotted the body of a male too," said Sumesh. "I've been commuting through this road for the past year and such an incident is unusual. I was unable to approach the victims as I feared electrocution via water due to the snapping of an electric line," he said.
Sumesh prevented people from entering the clogged water and reported the incident to the police control room. "The police and KSEB officials reached the venue in half an hour," he said.
Binu S, the ambulance driver who came to the rescue said, "We reached the venue as soon as we got the call. By the time we had reached, water was clogged by an inch. We managed to carry the dead bodies to the hospital after the KSEB officials switched the power supply."
Residents of the region received the news rather late.
According to G K Ranjith, who stays nearby, the Ajantha Pulli Lane Residents Association (PRA) is adept in sending messages when electric lines are snapped. "This time we received the information after 7 am," he said.
The snapping of electric lines in the area during the monsoon is a regular affair. KSEB switches off the power supply as soon as they receive information from the residents.
"Water gets clogged whereas it is a low lying area. But the same will get drained as soon as the rain stops. We were not aware of the electric wire snap, else we would have informed the KSEB officials," said Padmakumar K, secretary, PRA.
A Solution?
"The pre-monsoon drain cleaning was carried out. We intend to intensify the cleaning of the drains to prevent waterlogging. The problem is high in the Bypass area. The land terrain of the city is towards the west. Most of the constructions happen to hinder this natural terrain. For instance, the highway itself is an obstruction, so we are in talks with the NH authority to rectify this. Most of the interlinks and drains are closed and must be opened to ensure the flow of the water and prevent water logging," said Mayor V K Prasanth