Four Forest department personnel suffered burn injuries while trying to douse the spreading fire at Manibikti protected forest near Kadumane in the taluk on Thursday. The condition of two of them is said to be critical.
The incident occurred around 10 km from a tea estate near Kadumane. Forester Manjunath and guard Sundaresh have been shifted to a Bengaluru hospital for further treatment.
Watchers Tungesh and Mahesh have been admitted to the Hassan district hospital.
Sakleshpur MLA H K Kumaraswamy, CCF Ramesh, DCF Harish visited St John’s hospital in Bengaluru, where the injured are being treated and inquired about their health condition.
According to officials, Tungesh walked around 10 km to Kadumane hospital and alerted the department officials about the incident, despite suffering from injuries on his face and arms. There was no mobile phone network at the spot of the mishap.
After learning about the incident, police constable Nandeesh, Hebbasale leader Megharaj rushed to the spot and carried the injured on stretchers and brought them to the main road. Later, they were taken to a hospital in an ambulance.
Published 17 February 2023, 17:39 IST