Wayanad:A daring attempt by forest officers to rescue four toddlers and their parents belonging to a tribal community in Kerala's Wayanad comes as a note of hope amid death and gloom in the district, which was hit by catastrophic landslides on July 30.
The photo of one of the officers holding a child close to his chest has been widely shared on social media since last Friday, with netizens lauding the four who carried out the dangerous trek, reached the family trapped on a hilltop and brought them down to safety.
The four officers led by Kalpetta Range Forest Officer, K Ashif, undertook the dangerous trek deep inside the forest on August 1 to rescue the tribal family which included three toddlers aged between one and four, and their father.
The family, which belongs to the Paniya community of Wayanad, was stranded in a cave atop a hill overlooking a deep gorge, and it took over a four-and-a-half-hour trek for the team to reach there. The forest officer had found the mother and a four-year-old child wandering near the forest region on August 1 and, upon inquiry, came to know about her three other children and their father stranded in a cave without food.
Ashif said the family belonged to a particular section of the tribal community, which generally avoided interactions with outsiders. "They normally survive on forest products and sell them in the local market to purchase rice. However, it seems like, due to the landslide and the heavy rains, they were unable to procure any food," he said. The Forest Range Officer narrated their perilous journey, in which they had to encounter slippery and steep rocks amid heavy downpours.
"The children were tired, and we fed them with whatever we had carried. Later, after much persuasion, their father agreed to come with us, and we tied the children to our bodies and started our trek back," he said. The officers had to tie ropes to trees and rocks to climb the slippery rocks, which he described as hazardous.
They returned to the Attamala anti-poaching office, where the children were fed and given clothes and footwear. "Currently, they are housed there. The children are safe now," he said. The visual of one of the officers holding a child close was also shared by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on social media. The CM hailed the challenging attempt of the forest officials.