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Journalism of Courage
The image of a forest official holding a rescued child close to his chest has emerged in Kerala as a testimony to the state’s efforts to save every human life possible after landslides wiped out entire villages in Wayanad on Tuesday.
The child, who looks emaciated and terrified in the photograph, is part of a six-member tribal family that was found starving at a cave downstream from Soochipara waterfall, close to the tragedy-hit Attamala. It took a daring eight-hour rescue by a forest department team to save the family, including four children aged below five.
The rescue has emerged as a glimmer of hope in the midst of a tragedy that has officially claimed 219 lives, while 200 are still missing.
Kalpetta forest range officer K Ashif told The Indian Express that the mission required them to traverse rocky terrain — and to convince the family to leave for their own safety. Ashif was accompanied by section forest officer Jayachandran, beat forest officer K Anil Kumar, and forest rapid response team member Anoop Thomas.
The rescued family —Krishnan, his wife Santha and their children — are now lodged at a forest department facility at Attamala.
Ashif said that on the first day of the tragedy, after the rescue teams managed to establish a ropeway across the river at Chooralmala, he along with Jayachandran went to the other side to check how residents of a tribal colony in Attamala were doing.
“The rope was established to bring the injured and the dead from the Attamala and Mundakkai regions. On reaching the colony at Attamala, we noticed Santha with a five-year-old boy. Other women were seen persuading her to return to her dwelling, which was away from the colony (in a cave some kilometres away). We returned to Chooralmala that evening itself,” he said.
On Wednesday, forest officials relocated the residents of the tribal colony at Attamala as part of their efforts to move residents to safety.
On Thursday, when the team returned to assess if anyone was left behind, Jayachandran spotted the woman wandering in the forest, exhausted. She was with her eldest child, aged five.
“Initially, she was reluctant to speak to us. Usually, she comes to the tribal settlement to get her supply of rice, and returns to her dwelling in a cave downstream. After realising that she and her baby were starving, we gave them biscuits and water. It was only then that she disclosed about her husband and three other starving kids, the youngest just one year old.”
Ashif said that after lodging the woman and the baby at their forest quarters, four forest officials walked four kilometres through treacherous terrain to reach the father and three kids. The team carried with them a blanket, some biscuits and a rope.
Using the rope, the team climbed down a slippery, rocky terrain to reach the cave. “It was filled with water. When we found them, the children and Krishnan were squatting under a sheet erected nearby. We feared they would not accompany us, but when we explained the gravity of the situation and the danger of staying there, Krishnan agreed to follow us,” said the range officer.
Tearing the blanket, a sling was made, in which one child could be accommodated at a time. Forest officials then climbed up the rock, carrying the babies in the sling, one after another. “It was very risky – failure would have led to us falling into a 100-metre gorge. While walking back to the camp, we took turns carrying the babies in the sling. We had to toil for an entire day to bring them back to safety,” said Jayachandran.
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