Help reaches lighthouse staff stuck for 4 days

For Navigation Assistant-2 Jayant Chatterjee and Lighthouse Attendant Bhupen Behera,the ordeal of Phailin ended only on Wednesday four days after it devastated the Ganjam landscape.

Chatterjee and Behera,the two employees of the lighthouse near Prayagi village of Rambha,were confined to the lighthouse since October 12 night when Phailin struck. They could not get out of the lighthouse as the forest around it was flooded. It was difficult reaching the spot,crossing the chest-deep slush, said R S Yadav,headlight keeper of Gopalpur lighthouse.

They had nothing to eat and had almost run out of drinking water after the cyclone struck. When they saw us,they started crying. They seemed so terrified. Even the local villagers could not reach them, he said. But they kept the lighthouse running with whatever diesel they were left with.

Yadav and his colleague from Cochin lighthouse,Pramod GK,reached the Prayagi lighthouse. They carried with them 40 litres of drinking water,60 litres of diesel and food for next 10 days.