ERODE: ONE of the organisers of the tragic trek in the Kurangani Hills, Prabhu (30), runs the Tour de India Holidays from Thindal, Erode. There were 12 people in his team, including himself and his Facebook friend Sathish Kumar, the leaders of the party.Prabhu has arranged tours to many places, but this is the first time that an accident occurred, said his mother, Poongodi.
He left on Friday, after telling her that they were going for trekking to Theni district. He was to return on Sunday night. But he did not return by then. Only on seeing the TV news, did she and their relatives know about the tragedy. On TV, she saw Prabhu speaking to Deputy CM Panneerselvam at the hospital.
The family lives at Kattur Road, Chennimalai. According to the statement that Prabhu gave the K Vilakku police, the group started from Chennimalai at 9.30 pm on Friday for the trip to Kurangani Hills on a van, hired from Arulvelavan Travels.
Apart from Prabhu and Sathish Kumar, the others were Kannan, Vivek, Sakthikala, Savitha, Divya, Neha and Thamizhselvan, all from Erode district, and Rajasekar, Sadhana and Bhavana, from Tirupur district.
On Saturday morning, they reached Bodi and after breakfast, proceeded to Kurangani Hills. They paid `200 per person as entry fee at the Forest Department’s check post at Mundal, and with a local guide, Ranjith, reached Kurangani at 9 am. The van was parked in the village and they began the trek to Kozhukkumalai, via Naripatti and Othamaram. They reached the Kozhukkumalai tent camp at 6 pm.
It was at Kozhukkumalai that 26 people, led by Arun of Chennai, came and camped near them. On Sunday morning, all trekkers visited a tea factory.
Around 9.30 am, when three women from Arun’s team found it difficult to trek, they were sent in a jeep to Suriyanelli. After this, those in Arun’s team started getting down. Only after an hour did those in Prabhu’s team start returning to Kurangani. But at 2 pm, they saw Arun’s team taking food at Othamaram in the forest. They rested there.
At that time, the guide, Ranjith, alerted them about a forest fire. “We started returning from the hill as fast as we could. The guide showed us another path, but the fire started engulfing the team,” said Prabhu.
Those in the team then sped in different direction. Prabhu, Ranjith, Sadhana, Bhavana, Nega, Rajasekar and three women from Arun’s team were able to reach Kurangani. Meanwhile, after the fire was put out, residents of Naripatti, Kurangani, and police and Forest Department staff started searching for the others. They found that Thamizhselvan, Vivek and Divya, who were in the Erode team, and Arun and four women from the Chennai team, had died. The police and locals brought the bodies down. They also helped Prabhu, Savitha, Kannan, Sakthikala, Sathish Kumar and a few trekkers from Chennai to go to the K Vilakku hospital. Prabhu said he gave the statement by going to K Vilakku police station with Savitha and Kannan.
Not an amateur
Prabhu, who has a degree course in Catering and Tourism Mgmt has organised tours in India and abroad. The trek to Kurangani was arranged with his FB friend, Sathish Kumar
Costly affair
The organisers collected `3,200 as fee for adults and `1,600 for children below 12 years of age, sources said