KOCHI: At 1:30 am on Tuesday, Neethu Jojo made the first phone call that let the world know of the tragedy that was about to unfold in Wayanad.
As a resident of Chooralmala and recognising the telltale signs of a devastation unfolding – the roar of the wind, the thunder of rocks tumbling down and the gushing water that entered her home – Neethu lost no time in calling up Wayanad Institute of Medical Sciences (WIMS) where she worked as an executive.
“She called me up around 1:30 am. She told me that there was a massive landslide in her area, and the area was being inundated. She asked me to send a vehicle to rescue them,” Shanavas Palliyal, deputy general manager at WIMS, told TOI.
Palliyal pacified Neethu, telling her that help was on the way and then got around to arranging it.
Bangle helped Neethu’s hubby to identify her body: Hospital
It is around 40-45 minutes’ drive from our hospital. So, I asked her to wait for some time. Then, I called the police station in Meppadi but the line was busy. Then I tried the number at Kalpetta station, but the cops there were unaware of the landslide. Then I dialled 100 and got to the control room at Thiruvananthapuram and shared the news,” Palliyal said.
An ambulance was rushed to Neethu’s house at Chooralmala from the medical college. But the bridge beyond Chooralmala town was blocked by an uprooted tree and the ambulance was stalled. By the time a smaller ambulance — an Omni van — was found and sent to the place, it was too late.
Inside Neethu’s house, the situation was dire with the water rising by the minute. She urged her husband Jojo to take their five-year-old son and her parents to leave the place and seek higher ground. As a member of the healthcare industry, Neethu’s caregiver instincts had kicked in. She told her husband that she would follow them soon, once she had gathered the few neighbours who were moving in the direction of her house. Her Samaritan nature was to cost her life. Around 4am, the second more devastating landslide occurred.
Palliyal said that he called her again at this point but all he could hear was Neethu’s panicked voice and that of her neighbours. “The river started to widen and change its course in the area where her house was located. She along with others was washed away,” he said.
Neethu’s body was retrieved from Soochimala waterfalls. But initially, there was some confusion which delayed things. “It was her bangle which became the key for her husband Jojo to make sure it was Neethu’s body,” Palliyal said.
As a resident of Chooralmala and recognising the telltale signs of a devastation unfolding – the roar of the wind, the thunder of rocks tumbling down and the gushing water that entered her home – Neethu lost no time in calling up Wayanad Institute of Medical Sciences (WIMS) where she worked as an executive.
“She called me up around 1:30 am. She told me that there was a massive landslide in her area, and the area was being inundated. She asked me to send a vehicle to rescue them,” Shanavas Palliyal, deputy general manager at WIMS, told TOI.
Palliyal pacified Neethu, telling her that help was on the way and then got around to arranging it.
Bangle helped Neethu’s hubby to identify her body: Hospital
It is around 40-45 minutes’ drive from our hospital. So, I asked her to wait for some time. Then, I called the police station in Meppadi but the line was busy. Then I tried the number at Kalpetta station, but the cops there were unaware of the landslide. Then I dialled 100 and got to the control room at Thiruvananthapuram and shared the news,” Palliyal said.
An ambulance was rushed to Neethu’s house at Chooralmala from the medical college. But the bridge beyond Chooralmala town was blocked by an uprooted tree and the ambulance was stalled. By the time a smaller ambulance — an Omni van — was found and sent to the place, it was too late.
Inside Neethu’s house, the situation was dire with the water rising by the minute. She urged her husband Jojo to take their five-year-old son and her parents to leave the place and seek higher ground. As a member of the healthcare industry, Neethu’s caregiver instincts had kicked in. She told her husband that she would follow them soon, once she had gathered the few neighbours who were moving in the direction of her house. Her Samaritan nature was to cost her life. Around 4am, the second more devastating landslide occurred.
Palliyal said that he called her again at this point but all he could hear was Neethu’s panicked voice and that of her neighbours. “The river started to widen and change its course in the area where her house was located. She along with others was washed away,” he said.
Neethu’s body was retrieved from Soochimala waterfalls. But initially, there was some confusion which delayed things. “It was her bangle which became the key for her husband Jojo to make sure it was Neethu’s body,” Palliyal said.