In a shocking incident, 37 people were trapped in a forest fire in the Kurangani forest in Theni district, Tamil Nadu. On Sunday afternoon a group of mostly students were taking a trekking expedition through the forest when the fire engulfed their escape route.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswamy reached out to Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for help. After this, helicopters of the Indian Air Force were sent out for a rescue operation. A separate 100 local police and Forest Department officials were also sent in to rescue the innocent civilians.
Sitharaman tweeted 10 commandos were sent via chopper to reach out to the stranded students. Among the 37 people trekking 24 were youngsters from the Chennai Trekking Club and 13 from Erode and Tirupur. The fire is reported to have started on Saturday from over the hills and was noticed only on Sunday when it approached the forest surrounding the trekkers.
Forest fires are meant to burn themselves out but measures are also taken to control the fire. The officials said the fire moved quicker than anticipated and a warning was sent to the trekkers. But the fire quickly spread through the forest trapping the group.
Deputy Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam met the survivors at the Government hospital in Bodi. CM Palaniswamy said the incident was being treated as a critical and emergency situation.
The rescue operation was completed and a total of 27 people survived. But unfortunately, the remaining 9 lost their lives. Among the rescued people, 10 had minor wounds while 8 suffered serious injuries.
