One of the first informers of landslide in Wayanad dies before rescuers reach her
Wayanad (PTI): Neethu Jojo, a woman staff of a private hospital in Wayanad, was probably one of the first to alert the emergency services about the devastating landslide that hit this district on July 30, but lost her life before rescuers could reach her.
A recording of her call seeking help for herself and a couple of other families who were trapped in her house after the first wave of the devastating landslide hit Chooralmala here, has gone viral.
According to the recording, she narrates the details of the horror they faced in the early morning of July 30 when the first wave of landslide hit her house.
In her distress call, she was heard saying that the water was flowing inside her house, which was surrounded by debris including cars swept away in the landslide.
In the voice recording she says that five to six families, who used to live near her house, have escaped from nature's fury and sought refuge at her place which was comparatively safer.
Neethu was apparently speaking to a staff member of Dr Moopen's Medical College who sought all the details and assured that help was on the way.
She was probably one of the first informers of the incident but could not be saved unfortunately and her body was found days later.
In the call recording she can be heard saying she was making panic calls to everyone she knew.
"There is a landslide at Chooralmala. I live behind the school here. Can you please send someone to help us?" she was heard saying over the phone.
One of the first calls Neethu made was to Dr. Shanavas Palliyal, the DGM of Dr. Moopen's Medical College, where she was working as an office staff of the nursing college.
"She sounded very distressed and was calling for help. I immediately informed the police and our ambulance from the hospital left for Chooralmala. The road was blocked due to uprooted trees.
"Our ambulance driver and another staff member were regularly in contact with her but after the second wave of landslide, the connection was lost," Palliyal told PTI.
The ambulances and the first responders were unable to reach Neethu as the Chooralmala bridge had washed away.
However, her husband Jojo, their toddler and Jojo's mother survived the landslide.
"It looks like, after the first landslide, she and other neighbours got trapped in a room and were unable to escape before the next one," Palliyal said.
Four staff members of the hospital, including Neethu, lost their lives in the devastating landslip that struck Mundakkai and Chooralmala.
The side of the house in which she and the others were trapped was destroyed in the landslide.
Around three bodies were found from that region while Neethu's body was recovered from else where.
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
