Overnight in manhole, 80-year-old woman sees light of the day

Bhubaneswar: An 80-year-old woman who had slipped into a manhole in Old Town area of the capital city last night was rescued today morning after 10 hours.

The woman, identified as Dukhi Sethi, had to spend her whole night inside the manhole situated behind BMC hospital in Old Town. It took nearly one hour for fire brigade personnel to rescue her today.

According to sources, the woman had slipped into the manhole at around 8 pm on Thursday night. Locals heard her screams today morning and informed the fire brigade about it.

"We got information from our control room today at 7.20 am that a woman has fallen into a manhole at Tarasundri Road in Old Town. Our team rushed to the spot and saw an old woman inside a 15-ft deep manhole. We entered inside through our ladder after removing a broken slab of the manhole as it could have injured the woman if it fell down by any chance. Later we brought her out carefully with help of a rope," said Deputy Fire Officer, Ramchandra Majhi.

After the rescue operation the old woman was admitted to Capital Hospital as her head was injured. Her son and daughter-in-law, who were searching her since last night, also reached the hospital after getting the information.

Meanwhile, she was reported to be in a healthy condition. Absence of water in the manhole was the reason she survived the mishap, added sources.