Eight persons including three children are trapped in a forest fire in the Western Ghats region in Theni district on Tuesday. Rescue operations are underway.

According to an officer from the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services, the people in the group are believed to be natives of Rasingapuram in Bodinayakkanur taluk in Theni district. “I think they work in the estates in Kerala, on the other side of the hills. Since there are no bus services, they might have chosen to walk through the hills to reach their homes,” he told TNM.

The department officials got an alert call from relatives of those who were trapped in the fire around 2.30 pm on Tuesday. The group was reportedly returning from Pooppaara in Kerala to their village in the foothills of Western Ghats in Rasingapuram.

The district administration has engaged around 100 personnel to coordinate the rescue operations in the region. “Our first team of personnel started trekking by 3 pm and they are yet to reach the spot. We still have two more hours to walk to reach the spot where they are believed to be trapped. We are not able to contact them either,” the officer added.

Fire engines from Theni, Bodinayakkanur and Uthamapalayam have been rushed to the spot and personnel from the commando team, police department, forest department etc are on their way to the spot.

Forest fire in this region of Western Ghats is common in Summer. In 2018, 23 people were killed in a forest fire in Kurangani hills in Theni district.

(This is a developing story)