Rescue operations progressing in Wayanad
In a challenging rescue mission, Kerala Forest Department officials successfully rescued a tribal family stranded in the Attamala forest near Soochipara waterfall. The family, consisting of four young children, was found residing in a cave placed atop a hill.
Kalpetta Range Forest Officer K. Ashif told the media that on the day of the landslide, while they were engaging in relocating tribals in Erattakundu colony, they came across a woman and a child wandering through the forest. Though woman did not give a proper response to their presence in the forest, officials understood that they were searching for food. Two days later, they encountered the same woman and child, still desperately looking for food. The team quickly sheltered them, and on careful probing, the woman revealed that her name is Shantha, and her husband Krishnan and three children were stranded in the cave.
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The team, then, soon set out to rescue Krishnan and his children. The treacherous nature of the terrain made their journey to reach the location an arduous one, K. Ashif recollects.
“It was a very adventurous journey. Reaching the colony at the foot of the Soochipara waterfall itself was challenging. We had to climb down 10-meter steep slopes using ropes. The journey took more than four hours to cover just one side. When we reached the colony, we found four people, including three small children, trapped,” Asianet News reports, as Ashif is saying.
The officer adds that since the family was scared of the outsiders, they had to persuade Krishnan in order to leave the cave and move to a safer location. When Krishnan finally agreed to accompany them, the officers tore the bedsheet they had into three pieces and secured each of the three infants to their bodies.
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“Climbing back up the path was an even bigger challenge than descending. Throughout the steep climbs and declines, we had to repeatedly untie and retie the rope. At one point, when the rope was about to break, we risked our lives by dangling from the top of a tree to fix it. It took us another four and a half hours to complete the return journey,” Onmanorama reports, as Ashif is saying.
They were safely rescued and taken to the anti-poaching camp of the Forest Department.
