Bhubaneswar: A 54-year-old man died after falling into a rainwater filled drain at Ganga Nagar here on Monday evening. The incident occurred when Harihar Pattnaik was on his way home.

Pattnaik was a resident of the Maa Mangal Basti. Sources said Pattnaik slipped into the drain while crossing it and was swept away by the water to a culvert 700m away.

Fire services personnel, after being informed of the incident, reached the spot and started a rescue operation. They traced him after a 30-minute search operation at the culvert in an unconscious state.

He was rushed to Capital Hospital, where doctors declared him dead after initial treatment. Hospital insiders said the man might have died of a heart attack since there was not much trace of water in his stomach.

Deputy fire officer, Bhubaneswar, Ramesh Chandra Majhi said: "He was still alive when we rescued him and took him to the hospital. He succumbed later."

Local residents, however, alleged that the fire services personnel reached the spot nearly 20 minutes after being called and that might have contributed to Pattnaik's untimely demise.

"We saw him slip into the drain and immediately made an emergency call to the fire services department," said Dibakar, a resident of the area.

A similar incident had occurred in 2015 when a nine-year-old boy died after falling into an open drain near Mumtaz Ali High School in Nayapalli police limits.

The boy had into the overflowing drain while he was returning from private tuition with his mother.

He was swept away for around 200m away.

The heavy rain that lashed the city for nearly an hour on Monday evening left several areas inundated and causing several drains to overflow.