62-year-old woman dies after falling into open manhole

 

The woman identified as Kamlaben Gulabchand Shah, a homemaker, was reported missing on Monday morning. According to the Virar police, at 5.30am Shah had left her house to go to a local temple, as it was her daily routine

Mumbai: A 62-year-old woman from Virar reportedly died after she accidentally fell into an open manhole on Monday morning.

The woman identified as Kamlaben Gulabchand Shah, a homemaker, was reported missing on Monday morning. Her body was found in the evening in the manhole.

According to the Virar police, at 5.30am Shah had left her house to go to a local temple, as it was her daily routine. The police officers said that at 10am when Shah did not return home, her husband Gulabchand set out to look for her.

After he failed to locate her at the temple, Gulabchand alerted his neighbours and other locals who joined the search for the woman in the locality. Even after two hours of searching when Shah was not found, Gulabchand approached the police. Based on his complaint, the police registered a missing person’s report.

“When I came home, a teenager staying near my building in Virar west came to my house and informed me that he could see a hand coming out of the murky water of an open manhole,” said Gulabchand.

Gulabchand immediately alerted the fire brigade. Fire brigade personnel then reached the spot and removed the missing woman and rushed her to Sanjeevani Hospital, where she was declared brought dead. “We are waiting at the hospital for her post-mortem,” said Gulabchand.

The couple had been staying in Virar west for the past two decades, while their two sons stayed separately.

“We are in the process of registering an accidental death report (ADR) and investigating the matter to find out whether Kamla Shah died due to negligence,” said an officer from Virar police station.