KODAIKANAL
The body of a 30-year-old-woman Divya, who was one of the six farm workers who were washed away in a flash flood in Mooliyaru river here on Saturday, was found on the river bank near Thazhodai, three kilometres away from Pannaiakdu near here on Sunday.
The rescue team had retrieved the body of a 55-year-old woman on Saturday evening. They could not locate another woman who was washed away in the flash flood in Moolaiyaru river owing to torrential showers on the hill in the last 48 hours.
Intermittent showers and darkness forced the team to stop its search operation on Saturday night. It resumed the operation on Sunday morning. The members trekked along the river, which was flowing in 400-foot deep gorge. After a search that lasted for several hours, they found the body in the downstream near Thazhodai.
The team said that the flood pulled the body three kilometre distance in the down stream crossing Vaazhaigiri.
“If the body crossed this spot, we could never locate it because the river passes through deep forests and steep slopes,” one of them said.
Revenue Divisional Officer A. Mohan, Tahsildar Bashyam and forest official Karuppaiah camped at the accident spot and monitored the rescue operation. The body was removed to Kodaikanal Government Hospital for postmortem.
Among the six persons who were washed away in the flash flood, local people rescued four persons – Pandiselvi, 14, Vijaya Raghavan 28, Saravanan, 40, Murugavel 45 immediately. The body of Jayalakhmi was recovered near the stream on Saturday evening.
All the farm workers were returning home after work in nearby private farms. They were washed away while they were crossing the river, the shortest route to reach their village.
The police said that they did not expect sudden floods in the river. Flash flood in the river was due to torrential showers. Meanwhile, forest officials cautioned villagers not to go near the river for some days.
