A young trekker who was trapped on a hill in Kerala's Palakkad since Monday was rescued this morning after a marathon effort by the army.
"Very thanks, Indian Army," says the rescued man, R Babu, soon after he is hauled up to safety. R Babu, sitting around army men for a group photo, is seen kissing army personnel as a gesture of thanks and joins the men in chanting "Indian Army ki jai, Bharat mata ki jai".
"Teams from Bangalore Parachute Regimental Centre were mobilised. Simultaneously we had a highly skilled high altitude warfare team and a couple of mountaineers who had summited Everest, available at the Madras Regimental Centre in Wellington, said Lt General A Arun, GoC, Dakshin Bharat Area, detailing the rescue operations.
The army officer also thanked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for coordinating with the air force and providing the army with the airlift for the team from Bengaluru.
The army team walked all night and as dawn broke, with the help of drones and cameras on board, identified the specific location, he said.
"Two highly skilled men of Madra Regimental Team, rappled down the distance of 250 ft, till they reached Mr Babu who is a young trekker and in a fantastic, daring decision making action, they decided to pull Mr Babu up instead of taking him downhill. So he was almost physically, bodily carried uphill by two members of this descend team," said Lt Gen A Arun.
The officer noted that the terrain was difficult, steep and bereft of trees.
"Chances high for a stone, boulder, or in this case a human being, who slips off the cliff, will almost find his way down. Mr Babu needs to consider him immensely fortunate, for being able to get stuck in that cleft," said Lt Gen A Arun.
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