At least 10 city trekkers die in Theni forest fire

At least 10 people (nine women and one man) were feared dead in a raging forest fire in Kozhumalai tribal village near Bodi hills, Theni district, on Sunday. The incident occurred when two groups had gone trekking from the village. The death toll is likely to go up, officials said.

One of the groups comprised 27 trekkers from Chennai (IT professionals and college students) and the other group was a family of 12 from Tirupur. The Chennai trek had been organised as part of Women’s Day celebrations by the Chennai Trekkers Club. 

Sources said, the city team had reached Theni on Saturday morning itself. The group reached Korangani village in Bodi hills and from there, travelled further up to Kozhumalai, a scenic village often visited by cinema crew for shooting. 

One of the rescued IT professionals, Sahana, said that the forest fire started spreading furiously when they were having lunch and they immediately divided themselves into two groups, assisted by the local guides. It was the local residents who first came to their rescue. 

One of the girls informed her father about the incident and he in turn spoke to the Forest officials and the Fire and Rescue Department in Theni district. Theni Collector, Mariam Pallavi, and other officials rushed to the foothills to oversee the rescue operations. Pallavi also interacted with the people and kids who were rescued from the forest fire. As per reports, so far, eight women have been rescued. 

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam also rushed to Bodinayakanur. State Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar tweeted that 15 people have been rescued so far. The forest fire had started on Friday. Though none of the Theni district officials could be reached, sources said organisers had not obtained proper permission for trekking

Monisha, one of the women who was part of a trekking group caught in the forest fire, said that their group noticed a column of thick smoke heading their way when they were half way through the trek on Sunday.

“Halfway through our trek, we noticed thick smoke. We had no idea how the fire started and tried to run in different directions to save ourselves. I managed to run off to another hill but have no idea what happened to the others,” Monisha said. “Ten of us were rescued and brought to Bodhi Government Hospital,” she said from her hospital bed. 

Meanwhile, DGP KP Maghendran heading the TN Fire and Rescue services said two rescue squads from his department were assisting in the rescue mission. “TNFRS does not have special equipment to handle forest fire. We can only send personnel for rescue. We could not establish contact with the teams there because of bad connectivity,” he said.

The Indian Air Force was pressed into service on Sunday to rescue the group of people caught in the forest fire in Theni district, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

In a series of tweets, Sitharaman said that on her direction, two helicopters from Sulur Airbase in Coimbatore were immediately sent to the spot as part of the rescue operations. The Union Minister said she asked the Southern Air Command to coordinate the search and rescue operation and evacuate those trapped in the fire. 

“The @ IAF_MCC are working with local authorities in Theni distt, Tamil Nadu to evacuate all trapped in the forest fire in Kurangani. Smt @ nsitharaman has spoken to Collector of Theni Distt & Southern Air Command to co-ordinate a quick & effective Search & Rescue effort,” a tweet on the official Twitter handle of the Defence Minister said. 

Sitharaman said the IAF was pressed into service following a request from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.  The Southern Command is in touch with the Collector of Theni, she added. A medical team had been sent to the spot and employees of a nearby private tea estate were also assisting in the rescue operations, she said quoting Collector Mariam Pallavi.