Around 500 passengers from Karnataka were stranded for nearly five hours on (July 18) Thursday night on the Kozhikode-Kollegal National Highway-766, which passes through the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS), after heavy rain caused the road to flood.
As many as 48 vehicles, including eight buses, 22 cars, seven trucks and 18 goods carriers, got stuck inside the forest near Thakarappady around 8 p.m. after the Nugu river was in spate.They were rescued by the Fire and Rescue Services personnel with the support of the police and residents.
Though the highway faced a flood threat on Thursday morning after the Nugu started to overflow, vehicles could use it until evening. However, traffic was hit around 8 p.m. when the water level on the highway rose by one meter.
Fire and rescue personnel from Sulthan Bathery rushed to the spot and rescued passengers in three vehicles of the department via a trekking route inside the sanctuary.
The rescue operation began at 10 p.m. and was completed by 2:30 a.m. on (July 19) Friday, said P. Nidheesh Kumar, Fire and Rescue Services station officer at Sulthan Bathery. He added that all vehicles were later moved through the forest path to a safer location.
Meanwhile, members of Ente Bathery, a WhatsApp group collective, disbursed food and water to the stranded travellers. Traffic on the Kozhikode-Kollegal National Highway-766 was disrupted near Thakarappady on the Kerala-Karnataka border on Thursday evening after the river overflowed.
