Mumbai, Apr 3 (Mid-day) : A 49-year-old man fell into the Airoli creek in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday night. It took the fire brigade team two hours to bring him back to safe land. Luckily, the low tide helped him survive the ordeal. According to the statement filed by Pradeep Tekde, the Bhandup resident had gone to the creek to throw flowers, when his mobile phone fell into the water. As he was trying to catch it, he lost his balance and fell into the creek.

Senior Inspector at Airoli Police Station, G Gorje said, “Around 10 pm, we were told that a man has fallen in the creek. We informed the fire brigade officials and they rushed to the scene. It is not a case of suicide, as the man says he lost his balance and fell. We took him to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Hospital for a check-up, and thankfully, he did not sustain any major injuries.” A team of eight fire brigade officials were involved in the rescue operation. Prabhakar Gadhe, a fire officer from Airoli fire station said, “It is surprising that despite a high fence around the creek, the man fell off. He was stuck in the muck for a long time and bringing him out was a challenge. Thankfully, because of the low tide, he managed to survive.”