Fire and Rescue Services personnel have been struggling for the last 32 hours to rescue a 51-year-old labourer who is trapped in a 90-feet-deep well in Vizhinjam in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. Maharajan, a native of Parvathipuram in Tamil Nadu, was fixing concrete rings inside a well at a house in Mukkola on the morning of Saturday, July 8 when the soil collapsed, trapping him inside the well.

According to reports, five workers were hired to renovate a well at the house of G Sukumaran, as part of which they were fitting new concrete rings inside the well. Maharajan went inside the deeper part of the well to fit a ring when the mud caved in. However, the other four workers did not sustain any injury.

Fire and Rescue Services Personnel have been involved in rescue operations since Saturday morning, which continued overnight. However, due to the presence of water and frequent mudslides, it has been a difficult operation.

Speaking to the media, Fire and Rescue Services Department’s regional officer Abdul Rasheed said that the rescue personnel had reached the spot inside the well where Maharajan went missing. “But there is a spring of water inside and mudslides are also there. Further collapse of the ring is prevented by fixing metallic sheets inside the well,” he said.

On Sunday afternoon, the rescue personnel fitted a metal sheet inside the well to prevent more mudslides. The rescue operation is still underway.

(This is a developing story)