On Sunday afternoon, the city of Kochi witnessed a rare rescue mission. A cat, trapped between under a metro bridge between two pillars in Kochi’s Vytilla area for the past few days, was finally rescued by firefighters.
For the past five days, local residents and traders working in the area could hear loud meows coming from the metro bridge. Then they realised a cat was trapped up there. Many locals tried to reach for it and rescue the terrified cat but in vain.
Photo: Sreeraj T
On Sunday, the police cordoned off traffic on a part of the road in Vytilla, one of the busiest streets in Kochi, to start a rescue mission. The officials were mulling stopping the metro train from running till the cat was rescued, but since the cat was under the tracks and did not go up, the movement of transport was not paused.
At first, two officers got on top of the bridge to try and reach the cat below, but the panicked cat began to run from one pillar to the other.
"The main challenge was that we weren't able to stand up on top of the pillar. We had to lie down during the entire rescue mission. Moreover, there were electric lines passing through on the bridge and we were given strict instructions not to touch them. But without touching them, we cannot work there. That was a risk. But we just wanted to rescue the cat," one of the fire force officials told the media.
Photo: Sreeraj T
Then, the fire personnel decided to reach up to her with a crane. Two officers climbed on and the crane was used to reach up to the cat. A large net was spread out onto the road, held up by people who had gathered below, in case the cat decided to jump.
Photo: Sreeraj T
After a while, the firemen finally reached up to the cat. A large offset net was used to reach to the nervous cat, which was cowering and constantly meowing. The moment the cat was picked up off the bridge, a loud cheer erupted from the crowd that had gathered below.
As it was being brought down, the cat jumped off from the net and landed on the larger net that was spread out below. In moments, it swiftly ran off; the media and the people gathered there had to run behind the frightened cat for a close-up shot.
Photo: Sreeraj T
Then, some of the residents managed to get a hold of it and gave the cat some food and water, which it gulped down, since it had been starving for the past few days. The cat later ran off to freedom.