Jebin at Medical Trust hospital, Ernakulam | Photo: VK Aji
Kochi: “Huge rocks may fall again during landslides. But my papa is not here to save me. I don’t want to return there without my father and my house.” Jebin’s eyes brimmed with tears.
Eleven-year-old Jebin who miraculously escaped from the landslide in Kokkayar by clinging to a coffee plant has been discharged from the Medical Trust hospital at Ernakulam. The disaster that struck his family and homeland is still haunting the boy who lost his father in it.
Only Jebin and his father were at home when the landslide hit Kokkayar. Father sensed danger when he heard sudden roaring sounds from the hill along with heavy rain. They came out of the house and father pushed him aside when the rocks and mud gushed towards them. Jebin fell unconscious as the water and soil washed them off downwards.
When he became conscious, he was in a river. However, he held onto a coffee plant on the riverside and managed to escape from the mudflow. Soon a current swept him and he fell into a ditch on the river bank. Later he was saved by a woman in his neighbourhood from the ditch.
Jebin is a seventh standard student at St. George school in Koottickal. The Medical Trust hospital authority gifted him a mobile phone instead of the one lost in the mishap. With this, he will be able to attend his online classes. However, the loss of his house is a major concern now.
Jebin's mother Annie was in Ernakulam and brothers Jestin and Jerin were also not at home when the disaster battered Kokkayar.