Cuttack: The elderly man rescued from a concrete pipe by a team of ODRAF and fire officials following a 10-hour operation on May 17, died last night after battling illness for 44 days.
Pranakrushna Muduli died while undergoing treatment at his house near Deulisahi in the city. His health condition had deteriorated after the incident and he was not keeping well, family sources said.
On the fateful day, Pranakrushna got stuck inside a concrete pipe of a pumping station near the State police signal headquarters at Lower Police Colony for around 10 hours. He was reportedly pushed inside the pipe when another worker of the pump house switched on the motor for water discharge.
Pranakrushna was a staff of the pumping station and had gone inside a tank to clear a blockage in the pipe. Unaware of the presence of the worker, another staff of the pumping station turned on the motor of the pump for water supply, following which he was pulled 20 to 25 feet into the pipe along with water.
Soon after the rescue, Pranakrushna was rushed to SCB Medical College and Hospital.
As people across the state kept glued to their television sets to track the rescue operations, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had expressed happiness over the labourer’s rescue and congratulated the rescue teams for their successful operation.