Kerala woman rescued after three hour ordeal in neck-deep swamp

PTI, Dec 20, 2023, 6:37 PM IST

Representative image (source: Pexels)

Kochi: A 76-year-old woman trapped neck-deep in a swamp for nearly three hours had a miraculous escape after a rescue by Fire services personnel here.

Kamalakshi Amma, a local fisherwoman, accidently fell into the sludge in Maradu Municipality while she was on her way back home on Tuesday afternoon.

The visuals of the dramatic rescue operation of the woman by a team of Fire and Rescue personnel went viral on social media platforms and was telecast by television channels on Wednesday.

In the video, the elderly woman could be seen fully smeared in thick, wet marsh and was later pulled out and lifted ashore by the rescue team. The nearly five foot-deep swamp in Maradu is reportedly formed of piling waste.

A relieved Kamalakshi Amma said on Wednesday that there was mud up to her neck but she somehow managed to hold onto a branch of a tree until assistance came her way.

”I accidentally fell into the swamp. I couldn’t pull myself up but somehow I held on to the tree branch,” she told television channels.

Fire Force personnel said information passed on by a local woman about her plight had helped them rush to the spot on time and save her life. A local resident, Seena was on her terrace when she spotted something moving inside the nearby swamp and was shocked to realise that it was a human who needed help. She quickly contacted the Fire force personnel who rushed to the spot and lifted Kamalakshi Amma to safety.

She was later taken to a nearby hospital and given the required medical assistance, Fire Force sources added.