A line of vehicles can be seen waiting along the road that is gushing with muddy water and small rocks in Idukki district’s Pullupara. The video, which was shot from inside a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (Kerala RTC) bus, then pans to the tyres reveallng a shocking sight.
A man and a small boy are seen clinging to the rear left tyres of the bus as the gushing waters threaten to take them along with it.
However, they were soon saved due to the timely intervention of the conductor of the Kerala RTC bus who spotted them while shooting the video. The man and child were tourists from Gujarat. Their car, along with other vehicles, was halted along a road in Pullupara on October 16, Saturday morning, after the road was blocked due to a landslide in the region.
The family of three had run out of their vehicle after they spotted a stream of water rushing from uphill towards where their car was parked. However, the man and his son were pulled away with the gushing water, while the boy’s mother was stuck near the car.
It was then that the conductor of the Kerala RTC bus, Jaison Joseph, spotted the man and the boy who found a grip on the bus' tyres.
Jaison, who recalled the chilling episode to The News Minute, said that the man and the child could have been swept downhill if they were not spotted and saved in time.
“Two hours prior to this incident, the road was blocked as there was a landslide in the region. The tourist family’s car was parked behind our bus. After two hours, gushing streams of water began to fall from uphill. Since the shutters of the bus were pulled down, we didn't see the family running out of their car nor did we hear any noise as it was raining heavily."
"It was when I was capturing the gushing water on my phone camera that I spotted the man and boy clinging to the left tyre of the bus. I immediately put away the phone and rescued them. The man later said that his wife was stuck in the car,” said Jaison.
Though it was dangerous for Jaison to go out due to the force of the water, he said he didn’t think about his safety at that instant. “I somehow managed to get out and saw that the woman was stuck outside the car,” he said, adding that the driver of the car had gone to find another spot to park the vehicle.
“I could not help the woman on my own, so I called some more people there and rescued her,” Jaison recalled.
According to Jaison, the family escaped with minor bruises. The family and other passengers were soon shifted to another bus to Peermade, Jaison said.
Incidentally, the news about the quick intervention of the Kerala RTC employee in saving the tourists came just a day after a Kerala RTC driver from the Erattupetta depot was suspended for driving dangerously through a flooded road and risking the lives of the passengers.
In the incident that happened on October 16 in Kottayam’s Poonjar, the driver of the bus steered the bus through a flooded road until the vehicle was half-drowned in the water. The passengers then had to be rescued through the window of the bus.
(Published in arrangement with The News Minute.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)