IDUKKI: It was raining heavily. Pappachan of Kalarickal house was in his home at Poovanchi, a hilly village in Kokkayar panchayat here, on Saturday when he heard a loud sound. Sensing danger, the sexagenarian rushed out of his house with his family members. He later came to know it was a landslide that had flattened around five houses in the village and claimed seven lives. “It was the most fearful form of nature’s fury that I had witnessed in my life since 1956,” Pappachan said.
Siyadh of Parakkadavu in Kanjirappally, who lost his wife Fousiya, children Ameen and Amna, aged 10 and 7, respectively, and relatives in the landslide, had spoken to his wife two hours before the accident.
“I spoke to her twice on Saturday. The last call was two hours before the incident. I asked them to shift to safety after she sent me a video of water gushing into our courtyard. I could not contact them again as the network was disrupted,” he said. Afsara and Afiyan, the children of Fousiya’s brother Faisal, and Fousiya’s father Nazeer were also in the house.
A frantic Siyadh left for home but the flooded roads delayed his commute. He finally reached and heard the devastating news. “My wife and the kids were swept away in the landslide,” he said. While the bodies of Fousiya, Ameen and Amna were recovered after a few hours, the bodies of Afsara and Afiyan could be recovered only by Sunday evening. The sight was heartbreaking. The children had been hugging each other when they died.
Nazeer was outside the house clearing debris when disaster struck. His entire family was swept away in front of his eyes. However, he was helpless as everything happened fast. He was later admitted to a private hospital in Mundakkayam.