KADAPA: A 7-year-old boy, who lost his way and went into Kalavakunta reserve forest under Tekuru Peta beat in Kadapa district on Tuesday evening, was traced on Wednesday morning. He survived alone in the wilderness for 13 hours.
M Sumanth, son of Mathakala Venkata Subbaiah and Sita Mahalakshmi of Bucchampalli village in Porumamilla mandal, went to meet his father at a lake after returning from school on Tuesday evening. Subbaiah asked Sumanth to return home as he would come home after grazing the cattle.
The boy lost his way while returning home. When he did not return home even after 7 pm, panicked Subbaiah informed the matter to his relative who is an Army man. He immediately conveyed the matter to Kadapa SP KKN Anburajan, who in turn passed on the information to District Forest Officer PV Sandeep Reddy around 11.30 pm.
Special police teams, led by head constable Siva Sankar and forest teams, led by beat officer Krishnaiah, under the supervision of Porumamilla forest ranger Venkata Ramana Reddy, launched a massive search operation for the boy. As a leopard is on the prowl in the vicinity of their village, the boy's parents were afraid of his safety.
Around 5.30 am on Wednesday, villagers Yesaiah and Santaiah who went into the forest to search for their buffaloes, heard the boy’s voice coming from bushes and they immediately rescued the boy, who was shivering due to cold weather.
The boy was found near Bucchapalem lake, which is 8 km away from the village. Later, they informed the matter to search teams. The police and forest teams rushed to the lake, and offered food and water to the boy. Later, they took him to his village and handed him over to his parents at 7 am on Wednesday.
Subbaiah thanked police and forest officials for their coordinated efforts in rescuing his son.