Kerala man dousing garbage fire falls into pit, goes missing
KOCHI: A plywood factory worker went missing after he slipped and fell into a 30-ft-deep pit while trying to douse the fire that broke out in a heap of garbage at Odakkali near Perumbavoor on Thursday.
The Fire and Rescue Services personnel, who launched a search for West Bengal native Nassir Hossen, 22, at 7 am, could not locate him and suspended the operations 12 hours later at 7 pm.
According to the officials, Nassir, who hails from Murshidabad in West Bengal and works at the Universal Plywood factory in the area, spotted smoke coming out of the heap of garbage - mostly comprising waste plywood - around 6.15 am. He alerted the other workers and went to douse the flames but fell into the pit formed due to the frequent dumping of waste around it and went missing, they said.
“The factory is located on an elevated area, and the waste is dumped at the slope near it. Due to this, a 30-ft-deep pit surrounded by waste has formed in the area. A fire had broke out in the same place in March. It took us six hours to douse the flames then,” said an official with the Perumbavoor fire station. He said when he reached the slope, Nassir slipped into the pit. He said footage from CCTV cameras installed on the premises confirmed this.
Fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire and begin a search. “We searched the area, but could not find Nassir. Our officials also checked neighbouring areas but in vain. We called off the search by 7 pm,” he said.
The Kuruppanpadi police have registered a missing case under Section 57 of the Kerala Police Act based on the statement given by Hasibul Biswas, 30, another Murshidabad native who last saw Nassir. Saritha Unnikrishnan, ward member of Odakkali division under Assamannoor grama panchayat said as per the workers, Nassir joined the factory recently. “Removing the waste and searching for him is proving very difficult due to large heaps of waste,” she said.
Saritha said residents had earlier formed a committee to protest against the dumping of waste. “The owner bought the low-lying land near the factory some years back and has been dumping plywood waste on the land to raise its level. Waste from other factories in the area is also dumped here. Over 30 families living near the factories are against this, as during monsoon, the rainwater from the garbage heap pollutes their drinking water sources,” she said.