KOCHI: Following the nearly 12-hour-long joint search operations by the Navy and Fire and Rescue Service the body of a 23-year-old who went missing in the Chilavannoor backwater near Elamkulam was recovered on Monday evening. The deceased is Jenice Ernest hailing from Kammattippadam. According to officers, the body was recovered around 5.30 pm, a few metres away from the spot where he went missing. As the water was filled with heavy slush, the operation was very difficult. The body was trapped in the slush, Fire and Rescue Service officers said.
Police said Jenice had a bet with his friends on Sunday evening that he will swim across the dirt-filled canal. The witnesses told police he became tired at the halfway stage and disappeared in the water. “The body will be handed over to his relatives after postmortem at the Ernakulam General Hospital on Tuesday,” an officer said.
A seven-member team led by Assistant Station Fire Officer A T Joshy led the operation on the first day and a 13-member team led by Station Fire Officer A Unnikrishnan led the second day’s operation. A case of unnatural death was registered at the Ernakulam South Police station.
A 20-member team from Gandhinagar Fire and Rescue Service station reached the spot on Sunday evening and started the rescue operation. Later the Navy personnel from Southern Naval Command also joined them.