Bangalore, Sep 18 (IANS) The search operation to find the body of an 18-month-old boy who was washed away in a flooded drain here was called off after three long days Friday, dashing the hopes of his parents, authorities said.

‘We’re ending the search operation, as there is little hope left to find the body of the drowned child. We’ve tried our best for three days, and are sorry that we could not trace the boy,’ said an official of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or Greater Bangalore City Corporation.

Vijay, son of migrant labourers from Tamil Nadu, slipped into the drain at around 7.30 a.m. Wednesday when he was playing near it. The mishap happened at Royal Residency Layout, near Madivala Lake here, after Bangalore witnessed heavy rains Tuesday night.

A search operation began immediately to find the boy and continued till Friday evening before it was called off.

Around 170 fire personnel and 60 BBMP men searched for the boy for three days. The search operation started right from the point where he fell upto Madivala Lake.

BBMP Commissioner Bharatlal Meena visited the bereaved family Friday.

But Vijay’s parents – Lakshamma and Vardharaju – were distraught.

‘I want to see my boy,’ screamed Lakshamma.

Vijay is the second boy to die in the last few months after falling in a drain.

The tragedy bears uncanny resemblance to that of six-year-old Abhishek Prakash, who too fell into an open drain May 31. His body has still not been found.

The entire episode has brought to light the callous attitude of Bangalore’s civic authorities in failing to fence the open storm water drains that dot the city.