Devotees stranded on Sathuragiri Hills rescued

A large number of devotees from various parts of the southern districts on Thursday had gone to the Sundara Mahalingam temple on Sathuragiri hills in view of the ‘Aadi Amavasai’ falling on August 2. Owing to heavy rains on Thursday night in the region there was flash flood in the forest streams.  Following this, some 200 devotees, who were climbing down, got stuck midway at some points. 

Sensing the grave situation, Forest personnel along with Fire and Rescue Department advised the devotees to move back to the temple. They were provided with food by HR&CE department. As the rains subsided, the flow in the streams also reduced on Friday morning. The personnel immediately commenced the rescue operation. By noon, all the stranded devotees were rescued and brought to the foothill. 

Following the rescue operation, the hill was closed for devotees on Friday and official sources claimed that no one would be allowed on Saturday too since the region has been experiencing rains for the past few days in the evening. Owing to the closure, thousands of devotees who reached Thanniparai were turned back by the police. It may be recalled that eight devotees were washed away in flash floods in the same Sathuragiri hills in May last year. 

Following the incident, district administration imposed several restrictions for the devotees who proceed to the hills and were allowed only on select occasions such as New Moon day, Full Moon day and during a few other festivals. The officials after the May incident identified several vulnerable places such as Sangili Parai, Pilavadi Karuppasamy Temple and set up camps posting personnel from the departments of forest, fire and rescue services, police and health.