KARACHI: A septuagenarian doctor died after falling into an open manhole on Jahangir Road on Wednesday, police said.

They said that the cover of the 70-foot-deep manhole, which was no longer in use, had been stolen and shockingly it was covered with ‘a piece of cloth’.

Rescue-1122 official Hassaan Khan said that Dr Zahoor, 70, fell into the manhole near Kanzul Iman Masjid. Apparently, the elderly doctor fell while passing by it, he added.

Area people informed the police and rescue officials and a Rescue-1122 team arrived at the spot.

The official said that the team had to widen the mouth of the manhole to enter. When rescuers entered the manhole and took the man out of it, he had no pulse and their medical team declared him dead.

The victim doctor lived in the same area and was a qualified eye specialist.

The police said that the victim’s relatives were unwilling to initiate any legal proceedings. They took the body for burial.

Last week, a four-year-old boy died after falling into an open manhole near his home in Shah Latif Town.

Despite tall claims by authorities, thousands of manholes and gutters are without proper cover in several parts of the city due to which incidents of people falling into drains have been rising alarmingly.

According to a Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation estimate, over 20,000 manholes are without covers across the city as most of the lids were either broken due to poor quality of the material used in construction or stolen by addicts to get steel.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2024