Bhadrak: In a tale of survival, a man who went missing after being swept away by the floodwaters of the Pochara River was rescued Tuesday after he spent five days clinging to a palm tree in Odisha’s Bhadrak district, officials said.
The survivor, identified as Sunanda Behera, a resident of Balipatana village under Arjunpur Gram Panchayat in Dhamnagar block, was swept away by the surging floodwaters. Despite frantic searches by villagers, there was no trace of him for the past few days.
Hope of finding him alive had begun to fade when some villagers travelling by boat through the Bajapati field area spotted a man clinging to a palm tree amid the floodwaters. To their astonishment, it was Behera.
The villagers immediately alerted the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) team, which reached the spot and launched a challenging rescue operation through the floodwaters.
After considerable effort, the rescuers managed to pull Behera to safety. He was found in an extremely weak and exhausted condition after reportedly surviving five days without food while clinging to the palm tree.
“His hands and legs were trembling when rescuers brought him ashore. The ordeal had left him severely debilitated,” an ODRAF personnel said.
Behera was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors began treatment on a priority basis. His condition was stated to be serious.
Meanwhile, IG UK Dash of the Odisha Fire & Emergency Service said around 1,000 people and 150 domestic animals had been rescued from the floodwaters.
As many as 125 teams of firefighters were engaged in rescue and relief operations across six flood-hit districts, he said.
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