Prateek Tanmay
2 min readVadodaraJun 11, 2026 01:29 AM IST
A horse named Rani crashed through the concrete cover of a storm water drainage chamber in Vadodara’s Kalali area and plunged several feet underground, leading to a dramatic hour-long rescue operation by the Vadodara Fire and Emergency Services (VFES) Department which required widening the mouth of the chamber to pull out the mare.
The incident occurred near Khiskoli Circle in Kalali, when the horse stepped onto what appeared to be a stable drainage slab along the roadside. Within seconds, the weakened concrete cover gave way beneath her weight, sending the horse tumbling into the narrow underground rainwater drain. The rider of the horse — its owner– had a miraculous escape as he fell on the road before the horse plunged into the drain.
A team from the Makarpura GIDC Fire Station reached the spot soon after receiving an emergency call and they initially tried to pull the horse out manually. However, as the drain cover had collapsed inward and the horse was trapped inside the chamber, the narrow space was not enough to pull up the horse with coordinated pulling from personnel stationed both inside and outside the pit.
Fire officers then called in a rock driller to break the concrete slab of the drain even as the horse remained trapped underneath. The horse owner was first asked to enter the chamber to pacify the scared animal. Fire officials then used advanced rescue equipment to pull out the horse after an hour-long operation. Traffic police were also deployed in the area to regulate vehicular movement as emergency teams continued the operation on the busy junction.
The incident has raised concerns over the condition and structural safety of drainage covers in parts of the city, especially along roads frequently used by pedestrians and animals. In December last year, a 40-year-old man had fallen to death in an open drain outside the Manjalpur sports complex, allegedly left open during a repair work undertaken by the contractor of the VMC.
