Kerala Landslides: How an Elephant Saved a Woman and Her Family
Wild elephants in Kerala miraculously protected and saved a family trapped in a landslide and flood disaster.
Elephants are one of the smartest land animals in the world. It's scientifically proven that elephants can identify various languages, understand human body language, use tools, have extraordinary memory, and feel empathy.
A few years back, ISH released a video about a female elephant helping a blind elephant find food. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00PocqA06Vk
While that emotional story was about one elephant helping another elephant, today’s heart-touching story is about an elephant rescuing humans from a disaster-stricken area.
As you all know, Kerala’s Wayanad is facing one of the worst landslide and flooding disasters ever. ISH released a video on the disaster too. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwPoiUf4VgE
Since then, around 400 people have died, and more than 600 have been reported injured. Around 200 people are still missing.
Several authorities, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian Army, and the Indian Air Force, are working hard day and night to find and rescue people.
But, in a miraculous incident, a woman and her family were saved not by NDRF but by wild elephants.
Sujatha Aninachira and her family, who live in the Chooralmala town of Wayanad, witnessed the landslide flood with their own eyes. Their house was destroyed when the heavy flood caused their neighbouring 2-storey building to collapse.
Sujatha, her son Gireesh, daughter-in-law Sujitha, and granddaughter Mridula were buried under the debris of their own house.
Sujatha heard Mridula crying and somehow managed to get out. She grabbed Mridula’s little hand and pulled her out of the rubble. She then covered Mridula with a cloth and started swimming through the flooding water.
Simultaneously, Gireesh and Sujitha also rescued themselves and escaped to a nearby coffee plantation hilltop.
On the hilltop, they saw a tusker and two female elephants nearby.
As the elephants came close by, Sujatha burst into tears. She folded her hands and prayed for the elephants to spare their lives.
In an interview, Sujatha said, “It was pitch dark, and just half a meter away from us stood a wild tusker. It, too, seemed terrified. I mumbled a plea to the elephant, saying we had just survived a great tragedy. We are afraid. There is no light, and water is all around. We request you to let us lie down for the night and let someone rescue us.”
To her surprise, the elephants came close to her and her family and stood silently as if protecting them. The family lay down near their feet.
The elephants stood there until Sujatha and her family were rescued in the morning and even cried while looking at them getting rescued.
Sujatha added, “We were very close to the tusker’s legs, but it seemed to understand our predicament. We stayed there until 6 a.m., and the elephants also stood there until we were rescued by some people in the morning. I could see its eyes welling up as the dawn broke.”
Sujatha believes the presence and actions of the elephants on that hilltop to be a divine intervention because the wild tuskers are known for their aggressive behaviour.
Do you also think that the wild elephants protecting Sujatha and her family was a divine intervention? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
