Forest watcher washed away

Coimbatore: A 24-year-old forest watcher was washed away in the Contour canal at Udumalpet in Tirupur on Saturday evening, while trying to retrieve the carcass of an elephant.
An official source said the forest department field staff and fire and rescue services personnel had been searching the canal since the incident took place, but there was no trace of the forest watcher.
The source identified the forest watcher as C Santhru, a native of Pudukottai district. Recruited in December 2019, he was posted with the Udumalpet forest range in Tirupur forest division.
According to him, Udumalpet forest range officials received an information around 6pm on Saturday that a tusker aged about seven years had accidentally fell into the Contour canal near Pollachi and was washed away.
A 15-member team, including Santhru, immediately rushed to rescue the elephant. But the elephant had died by the time they reached the spot. The team them sprang into action to retrieve the elephant’s carcass.
P K Dileep, district forest officer, Tirupur forest division, said, “Santhru accidentally fell in the canal while trying to retrieve the carcass and got washed way due to the strong water current.”
He said special teams were immediately formed to trace the forest watcher. “They searched the canal for a distance of 14km from the accident spot on Saturday night alone, but in vain. We have urged the Public Works Department (PWD) authorities to bring down the water flow in the canal.”
The fire and rescue service personnel, meanwhile, resumed the search for the forest watcher on Sunday morning. “The search operations lasted until the evening. We haven’t succeeded in tracing him so far,” the district forest officer said.
Meanwhile, the carcass of the tusker was retrieved from the canal.