Kochi: In a significant discovery, what is believed to be remnants of the historic Immanuel Fort surfaced on Sunday beneath the fourth breakwater at Fort Kochi’s South Beach. The structure, built with laterite stones, was revealed when sand and soil were cleared from the area following a sea erosion.

Interestingly, a similar structure had emerged near the third breakwater just days ago but was quickly buried again under shifting soil.

Dr R T Ratheesh Kumar, Assistant Professor at the Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), visited the site and collected samples of the exposed laterite wall for further study. He confirmed that the structure appears to be part of the erstwhile Immanuel Fort. To better understand the construction period and materials used, he will be conducting further analysis and revisiting the site.

Accompanying Dr Ratheesh were Antony Kureethara, Opposition Leader of the Kochi Municipal Corporation and Clincy Francis, in-charge officer of the Ernakulam District Heritage Museum.

It was a team led by Dr Ratheesh Kumar that had earlier studied the stone materials that were unearthed during the construction of the Water Metro jetty at Kamalakadavu.