Elderly Man Rescued From Concrete Pipe In Cuttack Dies

Cuttack: An elderly man, who was rescued from a narrow concrete pipe at Tulasipur in Cuttack on May 17, died on Thursday.

Pranakrusna Muduli died at his house near Tulasipur here reportedly due to age-related ailments.

Pranakrushna Muduli got trapped while working inside a pumping station pipe at Tulasipur in Cuttack district around 8 am on May 17. He was rescued around 3:35 pm after a seven-hour-long operation by a team of fire officials accompanied by ODRAF personnel.

The incident took place when Muduli, a labourer, got stuck inside the 2.5-wide pipe while clearing a blockage.

He was sucked about 15-20 metres into the pipe when a staffer of the pumping station turned on the motor of the pump for water supply.

The victim was taken out of the pipe by cutting open the concrete chamber.

Suction machine, breathing apparatus, drilling machine, blower and other equipments were used in the rescue operation.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had expressed relief and happiness over Muduli’s rescue. He had also congratulated fire officials and the ODRAF team for the successful operation.

As many as 20 fire personnel, who had rescued the elderly man were honoured by Fire Services DG Bijay Kumar Sharma at the state headquarters office in Cuttack.

The fire officials were presented Rs 3,000 cash prize each for their heroic act.