Elephant Saves Family During Night Of Wayanad Landslide; Woman Shares Miraculous Story

During the monsoon season, landslides are common in Wayanad, a mountainous region in the Western Ghats mountain range. Although landslides and flash flooding appear to occur often, this year looks unusual. Wayanad saw the mayhem in the form of one of the worst deadliest landslides in the decade.

Several landslides happened in several villages in the Wayanad district early on July 30, 2024. Rainfall was so intense that slopes collapsed, sending rocks, dirt, and water down in huge quantities upon the region. Among Kerala‘s deadliest natural catastrophes ever, the landslides resulted in at least 386 confirmed deaths, over 273 injuries, and 180 reported missing people.

However, even in this, we have got some stories seriously inspiring and healing stories. One of the finest story from this catastrophic incident is that a wild elephant secured the safety of the one family during landslides.

Wild Elephant gives shelter to one family during deadly landslides happened in Wayanad

It’s common to see wild elephants—particularly tuskers—as hostile toward people. Sujatha and her family, however, have an incredible tale that contradicts this notion. On the tragic Tuesday night when multiple landslides ravaged Kerala’s Wayanad, causing widespread devastation, a giant tusker saved Sujatha’s life.

For the past four days, rescue efforts in Chooralmala have continued. More than 215 persons are still unaccounted for and more than 300 lives have been lost thus far. The Indian Express reports that Sujatha, a local, is still processing what happened that night and is in awe of the divine intervention that kept her family alive.

Sujatha, now at the Meppadi Government Higher Secondary School relief camp, told mediapersons, her tale. She said,

The water was like the sea. Trees were floating by. When I looked outside, my neighbour’s two-story house was collapsing. It fell and destroyed our house. I heard my granddaughter, Mridula, crying as I managed to get out. I grabbed hold of her little finger, pulled her out of the rubble eventually, covered her with a cloth, and began swimming through the flooding water.

There was a home nearby where her grandson Suraj, daughter-in-law Sujitha, and son Gigeesh were. Through the water, Gigeesh was able to pull each of them individually. The tusker came into view as they headed toward the coast and passed by a coffee plantation.

Sujatha pleaded to elephant to spare her life

Speaking to mathrubhumi.com, Sujatha said,

A significant tragedy has just ended. Our fear is real. There’s water everywhere and no light. In some way, we arrived swimming. Mathrubhumi.com said that Sujatha begged the elephant to “please don’t do anything to us.

She added that there were two additional elephants in the area. Sujatha said that the elephant was shedding tears from its eyes.

In an Asianet News video, she stated,

He stood there, motionless, until dawn, and all of us by its feet.

Sujatha and her family were located the next morning, and they were given dry clothing, food, and drink as well as being sent to a secure home. In such clothing, Sujatha and her granddaughter Mridula arrived at the Meppadi camp. According to the mathrubhumi.com source, the remainder of the family is in a hospital.

Forty rescue teams are still looking for missing people and corpses in spite of intense rain and challenging terrain. To assist in body location, State Revenue Minister K Rajan announced on Saturday the arrival of a drone-based radar from Delhi. Four additional canines from Tamil Nadu are likely to join the six already helping in the hunt.

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