It was a difficult place to reach for anyone from outside. It was the locals, wading through the water precariously who were ferrying people to a safer place, again surrounded by water. And worsening the situation in facing the flood from the swollen the Periyar, was the knowledge that six people had died in the collapse of a wall of an old building adjacent to the St. Xavier’s Church in Kuthiyathode. Many people had taken shelter in the parish hall of the church, which was next to this old building.
Major Ravishankar H.N. of the 120 Engineer Regiment, Pune, with a 10-member team were tasked to reach the place and get the bodies out from underneath the collapsed wall.
The account of the operation was narrated by the Major to The Hindu. Here are the excerpts.
”We reached there wading through chest high water on Friday evening”. Helping them reach the place were Vishnu, Akbar and Antony, who knew the way around thoroughly, even in the dark. It took us long time to reach there from Puthenvelikkara. Wading through the water was difficult. The Coast Guard was also there. But after a point, their boat could not go further. We had the flat boats with us on which we made it to the place. After a brief assessment, the team got down to their task. “We did not have all our tools with us”, said the Major. However, the team managed to get some of the task done. The diligent and swift work by expert hands removed the debris of the collapsed building on the side of the staircase to find two dead bodies by late night.
They returned that day but went again on Sunday evening better equipped to complete the task of taking out all the bodies. By 9.30 p.m., they finished their work. It was a challenge to carry the bodies and their boats and tools back as they went to hand over the bodies to the police station, along with carrying their tools and the flat boats to hand over the bodies to to the local police station.
The flood water was receding as the Army team got to the task. On Saturday, water came down to stomach level as they stopped their work and returned. On the second day, water was only just over the knee when they reached the place. It came down to just below knee level by the time they completed the task
Says Major Ravishankar, “a person called Davis knew exactly where the people were inside the building when they got trapped”. His directions were so accurate that it made our task easier, he added.