THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On August 16, the residents of Thukalassery gathered at Mathilbhagom Govt Model UPG School lighting a lamp in memory of Vishal Nair, the 24-year-old youth who laid down his life saving scores of others. They instituted an endowment to help the underprivileged students in a bid to keep the memories of their hero aglow.
On this day last year, Vishal fought raging waters, from Manimalayar and Pampa rivers that swamped the entire Tiruvalla town, to save his neighbours who were trapped. And they watched with horror as the flood carried him to the abyss of death. Since last year, MP Venugopalan Nair, an officer with CBI in Kochi, has not visited Madappatharayil house, at Thukalassery, where each moment brings alive memories of his lost son.
“We went to bed at around 11 pm on August 15. At 3.30 am, I was woken up by the sound of gushing water. Vishal rushed out to help our neighbours. Around 7 am, water breached our doorstep. He brought an Omni van and shifted his mother Jayashree to a relative’s house. He was running around helping the elderly shift to safer places,” recalled Venugopalan.
“Vishal said he will bring a thick rope and tie it across the stream to help people cross. It was 10.30 am and we were wading through neck-deep water. Suddenly a compound wall collapsed and water started gushing with great force. Somehow, I managed to catch hold of an areca palm and then people saved me,” he said. But little did Venugopalan know that his son was washed away while attempting to save him. After the tragedy, Nair shifted his family to the staff quarters in Kochi.