Rayagada: In one hand, she held her three-year-old son. Her other hand desperately clutched a bush which, pounded by the river’s gushing waters, seemed it won’t hold its ground for long.
Praying for a miracle, she held on to her son and the bush, which, luckily, held its ground for nearly three hours as villagers mounted a valiant effort to rescue the mother and child trapped in the middle of a flooded river in Odisha’s Rayagada district.
The incident took place on Sunday in Punjapai village under Kumbhikota panchayat in Sadar block of the district.
The woman, Nandini Kadraka, carrying her three-year-old son, had gone to the other side of the river.
While crossing the river on her way back, suddenly the river became flooded with water gushing in from upstream. There was a real danger of being swept away. A desperate Nandini, child in arms, grabbed a bush — which itself was in danger of being swept away — in the middle of the river and shouted for help.
Villagers rushed to rescue them but it took them almost three hours to bring them to the safety of the shore as Nandini, clutching her child, held on to the bush.
