400 passengers rescued from Wayanad forest after flooding on Kozhikode-Bengaluru NH

Sulthan Bathery: Police and Rescue team on Friday rescued 400 passengers stranded in the flood waters in the deep forest on Kozhikode-Bengaluru NH 766. The  late night mission which took more than 3 hours, ended by 3 am.

According to a communique of the district administration, there were around 400 passengers in more than 25 vehicles who were brought to safety by the combined teamwork of the Fire Force and a police team from Sulthan Bathery, forest department staff and people of the locality. It included KSRTC buses and private vehicles en route to Sulthan Bathery.  

Reports on the stranded passengers started spreading by 11pm on Thursday. As the mobile phone signals were weak, it was tough for the passengers to contact their relatives. Moreover, as the forest stretch was notorious for roaming elephant herds, it was risky for the passengers to step down from the vehicles. 

According to Nizar, a trader from Sulthan Bathery, one of the passengers, it was the timely intervention of officials and local residents that helped the passengers caught between the flooded forest and the closed border check post of Karnataka.

"As the officials ensured food and water for the passengers, most of us were relieved," he said." There were tuskers around and a particular tusker was targeting a truck laden with jaggery. We managed to remove the vehicle from the spot as it was dangerous for all of us," he added.

By 9 pm the border check post at Moolehalla in Karnataka is closed for vehicles due to the night traffic ban.  Though the police team from Sulthan Bathery was stationed at the spot much earlier, the team was unable to reach out to all the passengers who were stranded across the flooded zone.