Thiruvananthapuram: A nondescript town in Kerala’s Palakkad is at the centre of a sensational rescue being beamed on television channels after a 23-year-old man in the district’s Malampuzha was trapped in a hill cleft on Monday, with desperate efforts by rescuers failing to reach him or provide him food and water.
The state government sought the help of the Indian Army and navy choppers have been deployed to rescue R Babu. The trekker’s friends said he fell into an opening on the hill when he experienced exhaustion while trying to descend the rocks. Having suffered an injury during the fall, he later sent selfies and photographs of the location where he was trapped on Cherad hill, a police officer said, asking not to be named.
Babu, along with three of his friends, trekked the hill in Malampuzha on Monday and was involved in the accident later that evening, the police said. His friends, who were able to descend the hill safely after abandoning the trek halfway, said that he initially responded to their calls, but they weren’t able to locate him in the crevice of the mountain.
“Mountaineering experts from Indian Army with all the modern equipments for the rescue operations moved towards Cherad Hill, Malampuzha for the rescue of the youth, Mr.Babu who is trapped inside the fault line of Koormbachi hillock, Palakkad,” a defence spokesperson based in Trivandrum said.
{{/usCountry}}“Mountaineering experts from Indian Army with all the modern equipments for the rescue operations moved towards Cherad Hill, Malampuzha for the rescue of the youth, Mr.Babu who is trapped inside the fault line of Koormbachi hillock, Palakkad,” a defence spokesperson based in Trivandrum said.
{{/usCountry}}“Two army officers, two JCOs and five other ranks from Wellington are expected to reach the location before midnight.IAF will be transporting one more mountaineering team of army from Bengaluru, which will be joining the first team by tomorrow (Wednesday) early morning,” the spokesperson added.
On Tuesday morning, navy choppers arrived at the spot and made several sorties but failed to evacuate him because of the treacherous terrain. Attempts to send food and water also failed to materialise, and authorities were trying to keep away wild animals by lighting flambeaus, an official involved in the operation said.
Visuals on television channels indicated that after the initial efforts to extract Babu failed, about 26 hours into his ordeal, a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was attempting to reach the man, who appeared to be sitting in a small recess on the mountain face.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that besides the army and navy teams, para commandos of the Indian Air Force would also be deployed on Wednesday to locate the trekker. “We will do everything possible to save him,” said the CM.
The state forest department said that it warns visitors routinely not to trek in the area as it has deep hill clefts and wild animals.
Lt General Arun of the army’s Southern Command informed the Chief Minister’s Office on Tuesday that a specialised team was leaving from Bengaluru to join the rescue efforts, an official statement said. The team, which specialises in mountaineering and rescue, was to travel by road, it added.
A member of one of the rescue teams told a media channel that while during the day the heat was scorching and unbearable, by the evening, the weather was turning windy and cold.
The rescuer said that another team was on its way to rescue the youth late on Tuesday.
According to local resident, the trekker, along with three others on Monday, decided to climb to the top of Cherad hill, but the other two abandoned the effort halfway. However, Babu continued to climb to the top, and after reaching there, slipped and fell, getting trapped between rocks on the mountain face.
With inputs from PTI