Man gets 17 stitches after falling into partially covered manhole

DOMBIVLI: A 53-year-old man was injured after falling into a partially covered manhole on a footpath on 90 Feet Road in Thakurli, Dombivli on Wednesday night. The man suffered injuries on his leg requiring surgery and 17 stitches.

Sundaram Iyer, who works as a station master with the Central Railway (CR), went for a walk after dinner with his wife around 9.15pm when the incident happened. His wife was walking ahead of him when he suddenly fell into the half-covered drain on the footpath near Balaji Angan residential building and suffered a deep cut on his thigh.

As the man was bleeding, he went to a nearby dispensary. However, the dispensary in charge asked him to get admitted as the bleeding did not stop.

“The streetlights were also not bright enough to see the footpath properly. I did not realise, there was a drain half opened and I stepped into it. My one leg went into the drain and suffered a deep cut. At the hospital, I had to undergo surgery as the wound was deep and affected the bone. I received 17 stitches,” Iyer, who is still admitted in the hospital, said.

Moreover, the footpath where Iyer fell into the drain is located near Omkar International School and schoolchildren also use the pavement on a daily basis.

“What if a child falls into the drain? I want the authorities to act and immediately replace the drain cover and make it safe. I do not want anybody else to go through what I have been through in the last two days,” Iyer added.

Bharat Patil, ward officer, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation, said, “We will find the drain line and our engineers will immediately fix the cover.”