3 fall into sewerage pit, suspected to be dead

Three persons, including a mother-son duo, were suspected to be dead after they fell into a huge uncovered sewerage pit overflowing with rainwater.

A joint search operation of civil and military personnel has been on since last night to recover the bodies, SSP Moradabad Luv Kumar said today.

Due to heavy rainfall, the road was flooded due to which the 4-feet wide and 15-feet deep uncovered pit, which was dug up to lay down sewerage pipelines, was unnoticeable.

Kumar said that as per witnesses, an unidentified woman and her son fell into the pit at Indira Chowk here. A youth, who jumped into the pit to rescue, too went missing.

Rescue operation by fire brigade and municipal corporation was initiated soon after information about the incident was received, the SSP said, adding, army personnel too have been called to help in digging out the bodies.

Prem Assudani, Managing Director of UP Jal Nigam, which is involved in the sewer line work, said a high-level inquiry has been initiated into the matter and those found guilty will be punished.

District Magistrate Deepak Aggarwal said the search operation was continuing on war footing.