Firefighters rescue trapped elderly couple from locked home in Chennai

In a late-night rescue operation, personnel from the Velachery Fire and Rescue Station in Chennai rushed to an apartment in Puzhuthivakkam to help an elderly couple trapped inside their home.

At around 11.30 p.m. on February 7, the Fire Control Centre received a call from Yogesh, a resident of Murugan Street, reporting that an elderly couple living on the second floor of an apartment building was unable to open their door from the inside. One of them was bedridden, while the other had fallen and sustained injuries, leaving both stranded and helpless.

Within eight minutes of receiving the call, a five-member team led by Station Officer D. Prabakaran travelled nearly six kilometres to reach the spot. Finding the door bolted from inside, the firefighters immediately forced it open and entered the house.

Inside, they found Srinivasan, 72, wedged in the narrow space between his bed and the wall after losing balance while getting up for water.

Fire service personnel said he was injured, and was unable to move, while his wife Banumathi, 67, who is bedridden, struggled in panic to seek help. Managing to reach a mobile phone from the bed, she contacted a neighbour, who alerted the fire service.

Later, firefighters sent Mr. Srinivasan to a hospital in a 108 ambulance for treatment.