In dramatic video, TN forest officials seen rescuing woman, baby from beside raging waterfall in Salem

Using a rope, a couple of forest rescue officials are seen carefully lifting the child and then the woman. As the mother and child appear to be out of danger, two individuals who were helping the forest officials in the rescue effort suddenly lose balance and fall into the water. Though the video ends at this point, the two men reportedly swam to the other side of the river and are safe. A couple of others were also rescued by the officials.

In a dramatic scene, the Tamil Nadu Forest officials rescued a woman and her child who were trapped due to the flash flood at Anaivari waterfalls near Attur in Salem district. The place was reopened for public two months ago as part of #Covid19 relaxations. pic.twitter.com/0VuQ77zF53

— Express Chennai (@ie_chennai) October 26, 2021

Salem District Forest Officer K Gowtham told indianexpress.com that no death or injury was reported following the incident. “The Anaivari Muttal is a designated eco-tourism spot. Rainwater from the Kallavarayan hills comes down as a waterfall here. This is the Attur region; if the rainfall happens in the Karmandurai region on the other side of this hill, people won’t know it from here. Within 20-30 minutes, the flash flood waters reached the area. It happens every year. This time, the water quantity was more. People were trapped on the side. There was no path, they could reach the other side only using a rope. Since our people had already been trained for such circumstances, they rescued the members of the public safely. We immediately vacated the people and ordered closure of the area,” he said.

The DFO said that due to the weather conditions, they have ordered closure of Anaivari Muttal waterfalls, Valukkuparai and one more tourism spot in Yercaud until further notice. “The field report is yet to reach me. We will get to know the details of the rescued people only after that,” he added.