Man falls into open drain in UP, dies;body recovered after 30-hour search

Bareilly: A 30-year-old man died after falling into an open drain at busy Satellite bus terminal in Bareilly's Baradari area Tuesday, with the body fished out nearly 30 hours later on Thursday following an extensive search by multiple agencies with around 80 rescue workers at the spot.Mohd Tauheed, 30, from Shahabad in Hardoi district, arrived at the terminal to board a bus when he purportedly slipped into the uncovered drain around 9.30pm.Bareilly municipal commissioner Sanjeev Kumar Maurya told TOI, "There was an open space left for cleaning the drain. As per CCTV footage, he was seated on the boundary wall next to the drain and might have abruptly fallen into it."Bystanders soon raised an alarm and tried to rescue him, but the young man was swept away by the strong water current. Police and municipal officials then launched a search operation around midnight. Their efforts were hampered by the drain's depth -- around 15 feet -- along with heavy garbage accumulation and fast-flowing water.On Wed, teams from NDRF and SDRF joined in and authorities deployed heavy machinery such as suction pumps, a crane and a piling machine. Slabs on the remaining part of the drain were removed and debris along the stretch cleared.The 30-year-old was finally spotted around 3am on Thursday, a few metres away under the sludge accumulated inside. He was brought out and identified with the help of an Aadhaar card found in his pocket.Locals said that the uncovered drain at the crowded bus terminal remained open since a slab was damaged during a cleaning campaign last May. Transport department officials claimed that they had flagged the matter to the municipal body, but to no avail.