Kerala amateur scientist's escape shute impresses BARC

Alappuzha (Kerala): A escape system developed by 60-year-old amateur Kerala scientist M.C.David has impressed a team of the Mumbai-headquartered Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

The innovative escape system, a simple spiral sliding chute, for high-rise buildings is all set to get its first work order from the BARC.

Last week, a four-member team of officials from the research centre spent a day with David and found what he had to offer at his residence near here.

Speaking to IANS, M.K. Stanly, the team leader from BARC, said they were hugely impressed by David's innovative escape shute.

David claimed the sliding chute, that can be made using fire resistant fibre glass or concrete, can facilitate a quick and safe escape for people trapped in high-rise buildings. The chute can be built by the side of existing staircases of buildings, he added.

In case of fire in a high-rise building, the residents just need to sit in the sliding chute to come down to the ground floor four times faster than stairs, he explained.

"We have recommended this to our higher-ups for suitable action and for going ahead. We read about this innovative product in the newspapers and I was asked by our top official to go and have a look," said Stanly.

The BARC has a dozen buildings which are more than three decades old and for these the organisation was looking for an emergency escape system.

This team has zeroed in on David's shute and very soon would get the nod for fixing it at a two-storeyed canteen building on the BARC campus.