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Over 70 abandoned quarries in India's Kerala raise safety concerns after recent drowning
In May, a Delhi-based model, 26-year-old Divyanshu Joshi, drowned in an abandoned stone quarry while looking around for locations for places to film an ad
- PUBLISHED: Mon 27 Jul 2026, 5:12 PM
In India, with over 70 quarries abandoned in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, safety concerns have been raised amid a rise in the number of fatal accidents of people venturing into the nearby ponds.
In May, a Delhi-based model drowned in an abandoned stone quarry in Kerala while looking around for locations for places to film an ad. According to the police, Divyanshu Joshi, 26, the model, entered the quarry waters, slipped and fell. Rescue personnel rushed to the spot later, and his body was found at a depth of 30 feet. Alexander Thomas, chairperson of Kerala State Human Rights Commission, also directed the state’s Department of Mining and Geology to initiate action including putting up barricades and warning boards.
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District collector G. Priyanka, told the media that for abandoned quarries lying in government land, the authorities will build boundary walls. “And for those in private properties, the landowners will be issued notices to set up walls without fail,” he added. Shajimol P.K., a geologist with the Mining and Geology department, said most of the abandoned quarries had stopped functioning for more than a decade.
Shimy Varghese, the president of a local government body, told reporters that some of the abandoned quarries have emerged as death traps. “We had prevented people from going there,” she said. “A few people had drowned in the past and we had placed warning boards.” Officials had not given any permission for the ad shoot in the dangerous waters, she added.
Police officials in the area said the abandoned quarries lacked basic safety measures and warning signs. While the water is shallow near the edge, it gets deeper inside and with hardly anyone around, it is difficult to rescue people who fall into the water.
Haritha Kerala Mission, a state government body, has plans to use the water in the abandoned quarries to raise the groundwater level in nearby areas through irrigation. According to a Mission spokesperson, the 20ft deep quarries have a lot of water, which can be distributed to nearby localities. Wells and other water bodies can be recharged, she said.
Incidentally, India’s National Investigating Agency has been conducting searches at several quarries in north Kerala, from where a huge cache of explosives had been seized earlier this year. The police have arrested a few people following the seizure of a large cache of explosives in Malappuram. They have also enhanced surveillance of granite quarries in Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts in north Kerala.
