From the desolation of landslide-ravaged Wayanad have emerged the tales of two young men who repeatedly risked their lives to bring imperilled people to safety, till their own luck ran out.

The thirtyish Prajeesh and 22-year-old Sharath Babu, both Chooralmala residents, are missing and feared dead.

Ever ready to help anyone in need, Prajeesh had ignored friends’ warnings to make three trips up and down a dark and treacherous hill to rescue people soon after landslides hit Mundakkai, 3km uphill from Chooralmala, around 1am on Tuesday.

He was last seen setting off for Mundakkai a third time in his 4x4 off-roader.

It’s feared that he was swept away with his vehicle and passengers on the downhill journey when a fresh barrage of rock and mud came rolling down the mountains. It also took out the bridge connecting Chooralmala with Mundakkai.

Shortly afterwards, when landslides hit Chooralmala and blew the roof off Sharath’s home, the young man did not stop after taking his parents to safety. He went looking for other stranded people and rescued 18 before he went missing, too, his disconsolate mother Subbalakshmi said, too distraught to provide details.

“My son risked his life to save 18 people (other than his parents) and now he’s missing. I hope he’s alive somewhere. At least, I want to see him once (if he is dead),” the sobbing mother told a TV channel from a relief camp in Meppadi, about 15km from Chooralmala.

With communications patchy and Wayanad engulfed in grief and chaos, details
of Prajeesh’s personal or professional life could not be ascertained. It was a Facebook post by Jamshid Pallipram, a volunteer in Chooralmala, that brought his story of
courage to light.

The post described how Prajeesh, who had already returned twice from Mundakkai with his vehicle full of people, refused to listen to his friends’ entreaties against making a third trip.

“Vasu etta (‘etta’ in Malayalam is equivalent to ‘dada’ in Bengali), lots of people are stranded atop the hill. Don’t stop me. I’ll go anyway,” were his last words, Jamshid wrote in Malayalam.

“We watch movies of superheroes like Spiderman, Batman and Superman. They appear when humans suffer and save the people. There was such a superman in Mundakkai. His name is Prajeesh.

“Prajeesh stepped out with his jeep the moment the first landslide struck. He then saved many lives. He drove up the hill twice and took many people to safe areas.

“The people stranded in the hills were petrified. Prajeesh perhaps felt unable to leave them there to fend for themselves. His friends tried to stop him when he set off on his third trip up the hills.”

It would have been pitch dark, with the landslide having knocked out power.

“Prajeesh once again drove up the hills and filled his jeep with people. But he couldn’t reach the Chooralmala bridge…. The landslide and waters swept away his jeep during his return journey. He said goodbye to this world,” Jamshid wrote.

“He didn’t don the attire of a superhero. He didn’t have extraordinary powers. But some people are like that. They appear in disaster zones and value the lives of others above their own. And then they become heroes.”

The post has attracted hundreds of messages paying tribute to Prajeesh.

A man named Nizar Naaz commented: “Prajeesh saved my friend and his family.”

Zubair Manjeri wrote: “The perfect example of love in humankind. Tributes, my brother.”

The death toll in the landslides has crossed 300, with over 200 people still missing.