Stephan Kayyar

Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod

Kasargod, Nov 30: A 35-year-old man who had entered a narrow tunnel to capture a porcupine died after the tunnel caved in. It took a 22 hour operation for the firefighters from Uppala and Kasargod to retrieve his body. The incident took place at Dharmathadka on November 29, Thursday at around 5.30 pm.

The deceased Narayan Naik was a daily wage labourer. He and two others had visited the nearby forest area to capture porcupines. The trio managed to capture one porcupine and Narayan Naik noticed that another porcupine was hiding in the tunnel.

To capture the animal, Naik entered the narrow tunnel in a hillock but was stuck when the tunnel caved in. His two friends tried enter the tunnel but failed. They later called locals for help, but even they could not reach Naik.

Narayan Naik

At 8 pm, firefighters from Uppala visited the spot. However, in spite of working continuously till 4 am, they could not retrieve his body. The hillock had a very narrow entrance, which allowed only one person to enter which was a major hurdle.

On Friday morning, more firefighters arrived from Uppala and Kasargod and with the help of 20 other youth they started clearing soil. They started the morning operations at 10 am and around 4 pm, they were able to retrieve the body which was stuck 40 meters inside the hillock.

The Badiyadka police, who had visited the spot, took the body to Kasargod General Hospital for post mortem.

This is a second incident that happened in Dharmathadka. Fifteen years ago Chandrappa, Athappa and Harish died when their bid to capture porcupine failed.