EDAKKARA: If that car hadn't moved back then and if they hadn’t run to the car to stop it…twenty people from Pathar in Malappuram are thanking the red Maruti Brezza for their second birth from the landslide which made the place a hell.

When the landslide occurred on August 8 at 4 pm, the water level in the Pathar stream rose and the water had become very muddy. Many barged the place to see it. Some moved to warn nearby homes. It was about this time Sherif’s son got into their red Brezza parked in the backyard just above the market to charge his mobile. The power connection was severed due to heavy rains.

When he got out after plugging his mobile, the car began to move slowly backwards. Seeing this, about 20 people rushed to the car. With a terrifying sound in seconds a landslide occurred bringing down rocks and big trees. The water passed wiping out the lowlands where the twenty were standing near the car. They escaped only because the car was on the higher side. Some sustained minor injuries.

Half portion of Sherif’s big house was damaged in the landslide. Pathar, is now a river with huge rocks.