This audio clip will scare you. It will shock you with the potent danger that the Chennai rains has brought into people’s lives.
In the audio clip, the voice of a young woman from Urapakkam, one of the worst flood hit areas of Chennai, is heard speaking in fear and struggling to control her tears. It is unclear how it originated, but is being circulated on WhatsApp.
The woman is heard making a desperate appeal for somebody to save her, her family and her neighbours from the treacherous water levels that are only rising.
She speaks in Tamil in this one-minute long audio clip and seems to have recorded this on her cell phone in an attempt to send it out through Whatsapp or some other medium. She is frantically seeking help from anyone who is listening to her voice in this audio.
From her description, it appears that more people are stranded in her neighbourhood or perhaps even adjacent to her house and she is able to hear them yelling for help.
She says she is terrified because there is a lot of chaos around her and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Will anyone come to help us? Anyone at all? She asks.
Listen to the audio clip here:
A transcript of the entire clipping:
“I am speaking from Urapakkam. Water is constantly increasing here. There are a lot of people suffering here, there is nobody to help out. There is a lot of noise and chaos here. There is nobody to save us. Please forward this message so that somebody can save us. We don’t know what to do. We don’t have anybody here. The children are crying. Please, please forward this to somebody. Somehow, we might get help. Water has fully entered our house. I can hear people shouting and screaming. There is water upto 5 feet. We are not able to go and save anybody. They are also unable to help out. We are all thathalikkirom (struggling) in water. Please forward this somehow. We need help urgently. Please, please."
The word Tamil word 'thathalikkirom' refers to the struggle or fear of someone who does not know how to swim.
The audio clip does not have the woman’s name, address or contact details and thus, unfortunately we could not get in touch with her. We are unable to ascertain when this clip was recorded or whether help reached them. Team News Minute sincerely hopes that she and her family have received help by now and are safe.