Futile end to search for missing parents; Harsha to leave Wayanad today

MEPPADI: Chooralmala native Harsha will return to the United Kingdom on Saturday after seeing no success in finding her parents in Wayanad. Despite eight days of arduous search, no trace of her parents could be found. Harsha’s sister Sneha was at her hostel in Kozhikode at the time of the incident and was thus saved from the nightmarish landslides that erased the whole village of Chooralmala.

Harsha, a nurse at London's Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, was granted ten days leave for visiting the disaster-stricken land. With the whole family burden falling on her shoulders, it is unavoidable for Harsha to return to the UK after ending the search for her parents. She will have to work hard to help her sister back home and complete the construction of her parent's dream home. Harsha lost nine family members including their father Balachandran, mother Ajitha and her father's relatives.

Currently, the dead bodies of Balachandran's elder brother Bhaskaran, younger brother Vijayan, Bhaskaran's daughter Saugandhika and Vijayan's son Nikhil Krishna have been found. Five children from her family are still missing.

Perturbed over the news of landslides, Harsha flew from the UK and reached Chooralmala on August 2. She then took a stay at her uncle’s house. From August 3, she started searching on the shores of the river and foraged the whole village for her parents. The arduous work of eight days proved futile as Harsha ran out of time and will be returning to her workplace with a heavy heart.