VELLORE: A team of National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) attached to the fourth battalion located at Arakkonam, rescued an elderly woman, stuck up for a day in the middle of a surging river, near Gudiyatham in Vellore district on Saturday.
Assisted by the personnel of Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) and the Revenue department authorities, the NDRF team swung into action on Friday night as soon as receiving a request from the district administration. With the Koundinya river in spate and poor lighting, they decided to carry out the rescue mission on Saturday morning.
Using a drone camera, arranged by Vellore district collector A Shanmuga Sundaram, the rescue personnel surveyed the area to find the exact location of M Ellammal who was caught trapped in the middle of the river in Ponnampatti village of Sedukarai.
“Ellammal, of Sedukarai panchayat in Gudiyatham block got stranded in the middle of Koundinya Mahanadi. The river was in spate,” Shanmuga Sundaram said.
He added, “We called NDRF yesterday night and after ascertaining her safety through drone, it was decided to rescue her in the morning.”
Using an inflated boat, tied to long ropes on one side of the riverbank, the NDRF personnel moved out onto a sand dune in the midst of the river, bundled the woman into the boat, and safely returned propelling the boat against the current of the waters.
Gudiytham RDO M Sheik Mansoor supervised the rescue operation.
Ellammal said, “We went out on to the riverbed well before water began to flow. My husband went away and returned at night (on Thursday) but found water flowing heavily and so he could get back to me. Initially, I thought a small amount of water flowing but later became huge.”
“We had no other options but to raise pigs to eke out a livelihood,” she explained.
Local officials of the Revenue Department stated that the woman and husband Muniappan had erected sheds to raise pigs when the river bed was bone dry.
Muniappan had gone to take food in the nearby village on Thursday when Vellore district was pounded by heavy rains triggered by the landfall of Nivar cyclone. When he returned, the river was surging and could not get back to his wife stranded in the middle of the river.
The Revenue department officials were alerted on the matter on Friday, in turn, they informed the TNFRS men.
The attempts by the TNFRS men to rescue the woman did not succeed. Subsequently, the NDRF personnel were called in to safely rescue the woman, they stated.