Army rescues trekker trapped in deep gorge on Kerala mountain

Kochi, February 9, 2022

In a spectacular mission, highly qualified teams of the Indian Army, including mountaineers, today successfully rescued a trekker who had slipped off a cliff two days ago and got stuck in a steep gorge in the Malampuzha mountains in Palakkad district of Kerala.

The operation was coordinated by the Army's Dakshin Bharat Area under the aegis of the Southern Command.

The youth, identified as Babu, 23, was pulled up to safety from the dangerous cliff, across a treacherous rocky mountain face, the Army said.

Babu and three of his friends had climbed the mountain but he slipped while coming down on Monday afternoon and fell into the gorge.

After failing to rescue him, his friends rushed downhill and alerted the locals and soon rescue teams arrived at the scene but they could not rescue him.

When the local rescue teams failed to lift the trekker to safetyafter several hours, help was sought yesterday from the Army and the Air Force.

An Army team arrived late last night from Wellington in Tamil Nadu and this morning an officer went down 400 metres and rescued the youth.

The youth was given food and water and arrangements were made to shift him to a hospital.

Incidentally, this is the biggest operation ever in the state to rescue one individual.

(With inputs from IANS)

NNN