17 September,2013 02:09 AM IST | | Sagar Rajput
On Sunday evening, Chavan, a resident of Chunabhatti, fell into a manhole at Chembur during the seventh day of visarjan. After a perilous 15 minutes or so, the girl was rescued by officials and then shifted to a private hospital.
16-year-old Jaya Chavan was part of a crowd performing aarti at Chembur. Amid the crowd and the heavy rain, Chavan was accidentally pushed into an uncovered manhole, hidden by kneedeep water.
The 16-year-old was part of a crowd performing an aarti of the Ganesha idol in the lane opposite Charai Lake. During the aarti, Chavan was accidentally pushed by another girl and fell into the open manhole.
After officials were notified of the fall, they pushed a bamboo stick to spot her position but, could not find her. They noticed another manhole 50 metres away and rushed there and again put the stick inside to find her.
Explaining the incident, Senior Inspector Pralhad Panaskar of the Chembur police station said, "The incident took place around 8.30 pm on Sunday evening.
This time, they found Chavan and immediately pulled her out. Officials said that if another minute or so had passed, she would have drowned in the manhole. Following her rescue, she was then shifted to a hospital
The place was extremely crowded, as devotees of two mandals had converged at the spot at the same time. Additionally, the heavy rains made the place chaotic and difficult to handle. It was then that a girl standing by Chavan's side pushed her and she fell into the manhole, which was uncovered."
Panaskar added that as soon as she fell down, the girl who had pushed her alerted the officials who were on the spot. Police officials deployed for bandobast duty, immediately stepped into action and started the rescue operations. "Owing to the heavy rain, the girl disappeared after falling into the manhole. We pushed a bamboo inside the manhole to note her position but could not find her."
Panicked, the officials soon began to think of other ways to rescue the girl. They noticed another manhole around 50 metres away.
Quickly, the officials belonging to the NSS and the Civil Defence force along with the cops, pried open the other manhole. "Fortunately, it was then that the authorities located the girl and rescued her out of it," said Panaskar, adding that another minute or so and the girl would have surely drowned in the manhole.
After she was removed from the manhole, Chavan was rushed to a nearby hospital. "Later, the family members took her home," added Panaskar. u00a0
