Tuesday, 05 November 2024
Tuesday, 05 November 2024
Indian Army’s Madras Engineers Group led by Major Seeta Shelke battled inclement weather in landslide-hit Wayanad in Kerala and built a 190-foot bridge with 24 ton capacity in just 16 hours. The construction of the bridge began early morning in July 31 and was finished by 5:30 pm on August 1.
Army engineers scrambled to construct the bridge to ferry heavy equipment from the nearest town of Chooralmala to the affected area, Mundakkai, after rising water in a river washed away a makeshift bridge on Wednesday.
The main bridge was washed away in the landslides on Tuesday, leaving Mundakkai marooned. The disaster was the worst in Kerala since the deadly floods of 2018. Experts said the area had received heavy rain in the last two weeks that softened the soil before extremely heavy rainfall on Monday triggered the landslides.
Although the bridge was supposed to be completed by 12 noon of August 1, heavy rainfall made it immensely difficult for the army to work.The bridge is built with a pier in the middle of the river due to its length.
The materials for the construction of the bridge were transported to Chooralmala from Delhi and Bengaluru.
Lauding the army's efforts of building the bridge in record time, the defence spokesperson, Trivandrum, wrote on X: "Kudos to Maj Seeta Shelke & her team of Madras Engineers Group of Indian Army, who went beyond all kind of challenges & built the 190 ft long bridge with 24 Ton capacity in 16 hours in Wayanad Started at 9 pm on 31 July & completed at 5:30 pm on 1 Aug."
The Southern Command of the Indian Army also hailed the force for completing the daunting task, despite the adverse weather conditions and restricted time.
"Inclement weather, raising water levels, debris, restricted space seems like a daunting task for rescue for many but not for #IndianArmy. Madras Sappers displaying indomitable spirit, never say die attitude and supreme commitment in the relief operations completed 190ft Bailey Bridge in a record time and facilitated furtherance of rescue operations. Kudos to IndianArmy and the valiant Thambis working day and night in times of adversity," it wrote on X
The army’s effort and work garnered praise on the internet with netizens congratulating them for their valour and for overcoming the adverse rage of nature and building the bridge in such a short time.
