70-year-old man dies after falling into open drain in Noida Sector 66

A 70-year-old man allegedly died after he fell facedown into a 2

A 70-year-old man allegedly died after he fell facedown into a 2.5-feet-deep partially open drain in Noida’s Sector 66 on Wednesday afternoon, police said.

Police identified the victim as Rumal Singh who lived with his family in a a rented accommodation in Sector 66, Mamura. (Representational image)

A video of the incident was widely circulating online. In it, the top half of the man can be seen partially submerged in what appears to be a broken section of a drain as some people attempt to rescue him. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Police identified the victim as Rumal Singh who lived with his family in a a rented accommodation in Sector 66, Mamura.

Police received information about the incident around 4.30pm on Wednesday. “Upon receiving the information, we immediately rushed to the spot and found that the man’s body had already been pulled out by the locals,” said a police officer.

Preliminary investigation shows that the man, retired from a private company, regularly used to leave home in the morning and return by evening. “As always, on Wednesday around 9 am, he left home. In the afternoon, when he was passing by the spot, he fell into the drain,” added the officer.

Shubhash Chandra, station house officer, Phase 3, said, “It was suspected that the man approached near the drain, from which two concrete blocks were removed, lost balance and fell upside down.”

Police suspected that, with the drain was already filled with rainwater, his advanced age and the angle at which he fell, he could not rescue himself. By the time locals spotted his body, he had drowned.

Police said the elderly man’s family members were alerted. “No other injury marks were spotted on the body of the deceased. His body was shifted for post-mortem examination and further investigation is underway,” added SHO Chandra.

In response to queries over the condition of the drain, Noida Authority general managar RP Singh said, “We are looking into this issue to determine how it happened and what measures the authority must take to address the issue if any.”

No case had been registered in the matter till the time of going to print.

This is the second such incident within in a month in which another man died after falling into drain with open concrete blocks. On July 9, a 27-year-old man died after he allegedly collapsed upside down into a three-to-four-foot-deep drain on a waterlogged road in Noida’s Sector 58 during rainfall.