The Forest Department employees had tied the children to their bodies.
Wayanad: Forest department officials rescued a tribal family trapped in the forest amid the devastating landslide in Wayanad. According to reports, four innocent children are among the six tribals rescued by forest department officials. A team of four people led by Kalpetta Range Forest Officer K. Hasheesh on Thursday ventured into dangerous paths inside the forest to rescue a tribal family. The family, belonging to the Paniya community of Wayanad, was trapped in a cave located on a hill, which had a deep ravine attached to it.
‘A woman and her child were found hungry and thirsty near the forest’
This family, trapped in a very dangerous situation, also had 4 children aged between 1 and 4 years. The team of forest officials took more than 4.5 hours to reach the cave. Hasheesh told on Friday that they found a woman and a 4-year-old child near the forest on Thursday. Let us tell you that the tribals get scared on seeing common people, that is why the forest department jawans had a lot of difficulty in winning the trust of the woman. The mother and son were hungry for 3 days, after which the forest workers gave them bread and then a jawan tied the innocent child to his heart.
‘Food had run out due to heavy rain and landslides’
After winning the trust of the woman, when she was questioned, a shocking truth came to light. It was revealed that the woman’s three other children and her father were trapped in a cave and they had nothing to eat. Hasheesh told that the family belongs to a special class of tribals, who usually do not like to mingle with outsiders. He said, ‘They usually depend on things found in the forest and buy rice by selling those things in the local market. But it seems that due to landslides and heavy rains, they had nothing left to eat.’
‘The children were very scared and tired, we brought them back’
The forest range officer shared details of the risky rescue operation to save the tribal family. He said they had to climb slippery and steep rocks amid heavy rains. “The children were very scared and tired, we gave them whatever we had brought with us to eat. After a lot of persuasion, their father agreed to come with us. We tied the children to our bodies and started descending,” Hasheesh said. They came to the Attmala office where the children were fed and given clothes and shoes.
The officers walked 7 km to save the tribal family
They have been kept in the office at Attammala for now and the children are safe now, the official said. On Friday, visuals of an official carrying a child in his arms went viral on social media. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan praised the forest officials’ act of bravery on social media. Along with Hasheesh, section forest officer B S Jayachandran, beat forest officer K Anil Kumar and quick response team member Anoop Thomas trudged over 7 km to rescue the tribal family. (Input: PTI)
Latest India News
