The long search for an unidentified person, suspected to have fallen into the Amayizhanjan canal near Anayara, ended on Thursday without any result.
Though the Fire and Rescue Service personnel, a team from the Pettah police station, Tahsildar B Sasikumar and the local people had reached the spot, Nellikuzhi, in the morning itself and resumed the search which had commenced on Wednesday night it proved futile even after hours. “We ended the search, after carrying out a extensive one on Thursday morning also, as no trace of the man could be found. Also, we couldn’t register any case since it couldn’t be proved that someone was missing and the search was based on the information provided by the local people,” said the Pettah police.
The search carried out under the supervision of the Thiruvananthapuram Tahsildar was monitored by Pettah Police and the Fire and Rescue Service. The information that an unidentified man was ‘seen’ floating on the water was first given by the people who were engaged in fishing in the canal at Nellikuzhi near Anayara on Wednesday night. They said that they had seen a body floating in the canal, which was overflowing following the heavy rains that lashed the city during the past several days. The search on Wednesday had to be stopped the midway owing to the heavy rains.
The search on the second day was done with a JCB with which the mud and waste in the canal, which had been polluted, were removed. The Fire and Rescue Services and police personnel also joined the rescue operation. It was a tough task for the police to clear the spot for cleaning by controlling the local people who thronged there from the morning braving the heavy rain. Some persons from Kovalam also came to the spot saying that one of their relatives was found missing since Wednesday.