12 injured in melee at Sabarimala

The temple elephant that slipped while descending the Appachimedu hill on the Sabarimala trekking path, tethered in a wayside ditch into which it had fallen on Friday.  

Arat elephant loses footing, hurtles down trekking path

As many as 12 people, including a priest and a mahout, were injured in the melee when an elephant paraded in the Arat procession held as part of the annual festival at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple hurtled down the trekking path after it lost its footing on Friday morning.

The elephant Panmana Saravanan, owned by the Travancore Devaswom Board, was descending the Appachimedu hill on the Marakkoottom-Pampa stretch of the trekking path.

Sabarimala Devaswom Executive Officer V.N.Chandrashekharan and board officials were accompanying the procession, along with a large number of devotees.

At one point, the elephant lost its footing and, unable to stop, ran down the slope. Vineeth, the priest carrying the Thidambu (replica of the Ayyappa idol), sitting on the elephant fell down, severely injuring his head.

A mahout, Girishkumar, fractured his right leg when he tried to stop the elephant. Though the pachyderm did not hurt anyone, many devotees suffered injuries in the melee.

Elephant injured

The pachyderm too fell, injuring itself. The elephant lost its nails in the fall and landed on a slope on the wayside, where it was later tethered.

Tantri Kandararu Maheswararu, accompanied by Melsanthi A.V. Unnikrishnan Namboodiri, reached the spot and took the Ayyappa idol to Pampa for the Arat ceremony in the river.

The ceremony was held at a specially prepared Arat Kadavu in the Pampa, as scheduled.

The priest and the mahout and two devotees, Suresh, 35, from Kochi and Krishnakumar, 55, from Muthukulam, were rushed to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, for advanced care.

Eight persons who sought treatment at the Pampa Government Hospital were later referred to the General Hospital in Pathanamthitta.

Two veterinary officers rushed to the spot and examined the elephant which was later taken to Appachimedu. The Ayyappa idol was taken back to Sabarimala in a Jeevitha, a palanquin-type carriage, after the ceremony.

The pachyderm had run amok, hearing the shriek of a wild boar near Marakkoottom on the trekking path, while it was being taken to the Sannidhanam for the annual festival 10 days ago.

Sources said the TDB sought a report on the incident from the Executive Officer.