4-year-old reunited with parents after a month

Kochi: A four-year-old Keralite boy, who was forced to be away from his parents for over a month due to the lockdown, was re-united, thanks to the intervention of firefighters.

After the boy's father, an electrician, was asked to go on home quarantine in mid March, the parents -- Sajith and Vishnupriya from Kambalakad at nearby Kalpetta -- shifted their son to a relative's house at Shoranur in Palakkad district. Sajith was working at Payyannur in Kannur, and a COVID-19 case was reported in that area in mid-March, following which he was asked to go on quarantine. By the time Sajith completed his mandatory quarantine, the lockdown came into force, due to which the parents were unable to bring their child back. The couple approached the Kalpetta MLA C K Saseendran for help and the legislator got in touch with Wayanad Collector Dr Adeela Abdulla, who intervened to reunite the child with his parents.

Two fire and rescue officials from Palakkad, Anup and Santosh, picked up the boy and his uncle in their vehicle from Shoranur on Friday morning, brought him to Kozhikode and handed him over to their counterparts in Kalpetta.

The child was then taken to his parents in Wayanad.

"The boy was brought in a Fire Force vehicle from Shoranur to Kozhikode from where our team went and brought him here and handed over to his parents by noon," K M Jomy, Station Officer, Fire & Rescue, Kalpetta, said.