In a bizarre incident, a one-year-old girl child fell from a moving multi-utility-vehicle (MUV) in the forest areas of Idukki district in Kerala on September 8 night and her parents remained unnoticed about it for nearly an hour.
The child, who escaped unhurt, was later reunited with her family. Video footage of the child falling from the vehicles and crawling towards a nearby forest check-post has gone viral.
The child along with her father Sateesh, mother Sathyabhama, two elder siblings and some other relatives were returning after a temple visit at Palani in Tamilnadu. As the vehicle reached near a forest check-post at Eravikulam national park at Rajamala near Munnar in Idukki by around 9.40 pm, the child fell from the rear side of the MUV.
#WATCH Kerala: A one-year-old child falls out of a moving car in Munnar region of Idukki district. The girl child was later rescued and handed over to the parents. (08.09.2019) pic.twitter.com/tlI7DtsgxU
— ANI (@ANI) September 9, 2019
A video footage of a CCTV of the check-post shows the child crawling towards the check-post of Kerala forest department. The check-post authorities who noticed the child immediately alerted the local police. The child suffered minor injuries on forehead.
Munnar Wildlife Warden R Lekshmi told DH that it was a miraculous escape for the child as it was a forest area frequented by elephants.
Munnar sub-inspector K N Satish told DH that the child was taken to a nearby hospital and given first-aid. By that time a message was received from Vellathooval police station, about 30 kilometres from Rajamala, that a child was missing from a moving jeep.
The child was said to be sitting on the mother's lap. The mother who was sitting on the rear seat and was sleeping. Hence she failed to notice the child falling from the vehicle.
The sub-inspector said that after verifying the identification marks and other details provided by the parents the child was handed over to them. Since it was an accident, no legal actions were initiated against the parents. The family hailed from Kambilikandom near Vellathooval.
