Pathanamthitta: Adversity often compels ordinary people to engage in daring acts. In one such incident, a boatman dived into the swollen Manimala River from a bridge in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala to retrieve his canoe which was swept away by the current when the rope used to moor it broke. A video of the retrieval has gone viral on social media.
The canoe, owned by the Kallooppara grama panchayat, was moored near the Komalam Bridge at Vennikulam in Pathanamthitta. The panchayat had arranged the canoe to enable people to cross the river after the approach road of the bridge was damaged and became unmotorable. Ramachandran, a resident of Vennikulam, worked as a boatman.
Following bad weather, canoe was swept away by the river current when the rope with which it was moored snapped. Ramachandran was elsewhere when this happened, but some of his friends noticed the canoe floating on its own in the river and informed him of the matter.
Ramachandran immediately rushed to the riverside and travelled along the road to Puramattom Iron Bridge downstream and waited for his canoe to reach there. As soon as the canoe floated down the river to the Puramattom Bridge, Ramachandran and a friend dived into the raging waters and swam to the canoe. After another hour’s effort, they took the canoe to the riverbank. The canoe had floated by itself for three km before Ramachandran retrieved it.
Some local people who had rushed to the spot also offered help to Ramachandran.
After the successful recovery, Ramachandran said that he took the risk as the canoe was his sole source of income.
