8 students lost in Munnar forest after bee attack while visiting Neelakurinji; rescued after 3.5 hours

Rajakkad: Eight catering college students who went to see Neelakurinji at Arupathekar in Chinnakanal, Munnar got lost in the forest after being attacked by giant honeybees on Sunday.

A 20-member group of boys and girls from Munnar Catering College in Suryanelli had travelled to Arupathekar in two groups at around 11 am.

At around 1.30 pm, one girl and seven boys from the group were attacked by giant honeybees. As they ran in different directions to escape the bees, they lost their way and became stranded in the forest.

Those accompanying the students alerted Forest Department officials, following which forest guards formed four teams and launched a search operation.

After a three-and-a-half-hour search, all eight students were located and brought out of the forest. The eight students, who had sustained bee stings, were taken to a hospital in Suryanelli, where they were given first aid.

During the rescue operation, Section Forest Officer (Grade) S. Sajeev Kumar, BFO Vishnu K. Chandran, Forest Beat Assistant Anpumani and RRT watcher Vijayakumar were also stung by bees.

The rescue operation was carried out by forest guards and watchers under the leadership of Chinnakanal Section Forest Officer Harrison Shashi.