Kerala fisherman turns 'stepping stone' to safety literally!

Malappuram: K P Jaisal proved he is made of steel, not just physically, but also mentally. Bending down in floodwaters, he offered his back for several women to get into a rescue boat.

Jaisal, 32, a resident of Chappapadi beach at Tanur, has been hailed by thousands on social media for his near back-breaking act while engaged in rescue operations at Muthalamedu, Vengara, in Malappuram district on Friday and Saturday.

Jaisal, a fisherman, is a volunteer of the Trauma Care agency that is active in four districts of Kerala. As he was sought, the team leader said, “He is in the water, will tell him when he returns.”

The team has rescued so far 250 people and recovered 10 bodies. One of those rescued from Swagathamadu had shot Jaisal's act and posted it on WhatsApp. Someone can be heard saying on the video, “Take off your chappals, take it off, he is human, not stone.” Jaisal replies, “Leave it, that is no issue. It's not right to tell those who are fleeing for their lives to take off their chappals. We are worried only about the debt incurred on diesel expenses.” (He acted as a gangplank as it is difficult for people to board flat-bottomed dinghies. The boat moves off on the slightest touch. The way to board a dinghy is to fall into it backward, sources said).

Jaisal dismissed worries about scorpion bites in the floodwaters and fissures on the feet that developed from long hours in the waters. He revealed that many family members of the trauma-care team themselves are in relief camps. The team's task was to rescue as swiftly as possible 130 families with the help of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Jaisal and his 10-member team from the Trauma Care agency reached the marooned spots in Vengara after taking boats on rent. They were specially called by the locals to the rescue operations.

When the team proceeded to Vengara for rescue, they did not have even life jackets, revealed the Trauma Care volunteer. But they could rescue 17 families including a 29-day-old baby from the flood-affected areas of Vengara. “We collected tubes from tyre shops and fixed wooden pieces on them, turning them into temporary rafts. After that, we tied ropes to them and swam to pull people on to it. Two among us were bitten by scorpions, but we didn't withdraw from the mission, since we knew there was a pregnant women trapped in the house and she was bleeding out of sudden shock. We had to rescue her as well the others,” Jaisal said while on the way from Mala in Thrissur, where his team carried out rescue operations on Sunday.

The rescuers even took up mission that the NDRF couldn't take up. “Saturday's mission was not as tough as on Friday, when we had to rescue people from areas where the NDRF could not reach. There were poisonous insects in water and even after they bit, we didn't get any medicines; the locals brought wild turmeric to apply on the bite spots. When the NDRF personnel claimed they couldn't reach the location, we asked them to take us on their boats as far as they could and from there we planned to swim," he narrated the ordeal.

Jaisal, who is trained in karate and taekwondo, joined as a volunteer of the agency in 2002 in Kozhikode. Trauma care, Kozhikode unit, was formed in 1998 as an independent, non-profit organisation. The society was set up jointly by NGOs like Rotary Club, Lions Club International, IMA etc.