MARGAO
A couple travelling in a Maruti car had a miraculous escape after they were rescued by villagers when their vehicle was being washed away by floodwaters on the Margao-Quepem road at Paroda.
The incident occurred at around 10.30 am when Joseph Costa, a resident of Ambaulim, tried to cross the inundated road at Paroda, when the vehicle was washed away. Fortunately, the vehicle rested on a roadside coconut tree. The locals rushed to the rescue of the couple and brought them out safety.
A journalist working for a local channel, Ramesh Raut Naik, informed that as he was taking visuals of the inundated road at Paroda, the Maruti vehicle just went past him heading towards Quepem. “The vehicle, however, could not cross the road and it was being washed away. It miraculously rested near a coconut tree. I along with the people rushed to the rescue of the couple and brought them safely out of the vehicle. The vehicle was also brought back by the people,” Ramesh added.
Joseph thanked the local residents of Paroda for coming to their rescue.
Sources in the know said the Margao-Quepem road lay inundated for most part of the day due to the incessant rains, forcing the authorities to divert traffic.
Meanwhile, the Margao fire brigade received around seven emergency calls on Monday, with several trees coming down on the roads at Cuncolim, Chinchinim, Margao and other places.
The fire brigade had rushed to Cuncolim in the evening after a couple of tree branches fell on the national highway. Fire personnel said that all the calls were attended to and the roads cleared of the trees.
