Three days on, search ops for Mumbai kid who fell in drain called off

Eighteen-month-old Divyansh Singh was reported missing at 10.24pm on Wednesday.

After almost three days, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire brigade and Mumbai Police called off the search to find the toddler who had fallen into an open drain in Goregaon (East).

Eighteen-month-old Divyansh Singh.(HT File)

Eighteen-month-old Divyansh Singh was reported missing at 10.24pm on Wednesday. A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, which had joined the fire brigade and civic officials in their search for the boy, was the first to call off the search. Commandant Anupam Shrivastav from NDRF said, “We did send our team at around 6pm on Thursday and by 8:30pm, we left the spot. There was nothing that we could do within our capability and training.”

The BMC disaster cell said authorities will be on alert and if anyone finds any trace of the boy, they should inform the fire brigade.

Rescue operations were called off on Friday night. Fire brigade chief P Rahangdale said, “We scanned the whole patch. Every possible route, right up to the creek. We did not find the boy. Now there is nowhere left for us to look.”

Approximately 80-90 personnel from BMC’s P/South ward and adjoining P/North ward had been pressed into action along with three teams from the solid waste management department, engineers and firemen.

Earlier on Friday, agitated residents gathered at Ambedkar Chowk to protest the BMC’s inability to trace the child. The police detained activist Shravan Tiwari, who was to lead the protest. Suraj Singh, Divyansh’s father, said, “The police took Tiwari to Dindoshi police station. The BMC administration and police are trying to separate people who are trying to help us.”

Singh also said that an FIR is yet to be filed as no body was recovered. “Cops said that for an FIR to be lodged under section 304 A [death due to negligence], the body needs to be recovered.”