Thiruvananthapuram: As the search and rescue operation for sanitation worker and Marayamuttam resident N Joy completes 24 hours, his ailing mother Melhi waits hopefully for her son's return. Forty-seven-year-old Joy went missing while clearing the Amayizhanchan canal at the Thampanoor Central Railway station premises on Saturday. He entered the tunnel swarming with human excrement and plastic waste for a sum of Rs 1,500.

"My son is the lone breadwinner in this family. He leaves for work at 6 am and reaches home by 5 pm. He's willing to do any type of work to make ends meet. He even picks scrap if he does not find a paying job. Joy never sits idle. He works even when he's taken ill," Melhi of Vadakara's Malanjerivu House said.

Joy lived with his elderly mother in a dilapidated building. Their one-room home, nearly inaccessible due to poorly maintained roads, is located in a forested area. Local residents said that the public fears to venture out after dark in the area. His sisters and brother live in separate homes.

Joy, a contract labourer from Marayamuttom, disappeared in the water while clearing a garbage pile at the Thampanoor Central Railway station premises, in the heart of the city. He was swept away while he was under a 140-metre-long canal tunnel which runs under the tracks at the railway station.