Meppadi: A series of landslides at Chooralmala and Mundakkai in Wayanad led to a massive search and rescue mission, which also displayed the selflessness of many good-hearted people such as Deepa Joseph (39), an ambulance driver from Kallachi in Kozhikode district.
Deepa had stopped driving ambulances 10 months ago after the unexpected death of her daughter Angel Mary. However, she reached Chooralmala with her ambulance after hearing about the tragedy and has been active in the landslide-affected areas for the last five days.
A resident of Ottupunnackal at Vilangad in Kallachi, Deepa started driving the ambulance four-and-a-half years ago during the COVID-19 crisis. The first woman ambulance driver in Kerala, Deepa has won several awards, including the state government’s Stree Sakthi Puraskar.
When blood cancer claimed Deepa’s daughter 10 months ago, she was overcome with severe grief and abandoned the work of an ambulance driver. Deepa learnt about the landslide at Chooralmala while undergoing treatment at an Ayurveda hospital in Kallachi and then received a call from E K Ajish, a motor vehicles inspector in Vadakara. He asked Deepa whether she could arrange an ambulance with a freezer and head to Meppadi.
Without any hesitation, Deepa went straight from the hospital bed to the landslide-hit areas with an ambulance. Engaged in continuous service in the disaster zone since then, Deepa even slept in her ambulance on the first three days.
