Wayanad: The forest staff with the help of people’s representatives successfully executed a rescue mission on Saturday at Ranimala near Meppadi where more than 60 persons including women were trapped after a landslide.
It was a voice message received by legislator C.K. Saseendran that brought the incident to light.
Though a group of volunteers had attempted to reach out to the spot in the interior region where there was no vehicular access, the group later had to back out after a warning by officials about further landslides.
After hectic discussion with forest department staff the mission was executed by the forest department staff with tribal volunteers and field staff.
The group was brought down to relief camp with the help of forest staff by evening.
Trapped in forest after the roads were damaged in a landslide, the group was unable to cross onto the road afraid of crossing the terrain with flashfloods and fearing further landslides.
The heavy rain that lashed the hills and lack of road access to the location caused delay in rescue efforts.
All the rescued were later shifted to relief camps.
