Angul: Three youths, who were stranded atop Malyagiri hill here for over 22 hours after losing their way, were rescued on Thursday. The rescued tourists are Ghanshyam Patra (19), Ananta Munda (20) and Bapun Mahanty (25), all residents of Keonjhar town.
According to reports, seven youths from Keonjhar had travelled on motorcycles to trek Malyagiri hill, located around 25 km from Pallahara town, on Wednesday. They began their climb at around noon. After covering some distance, four of them abandoned the trek and returned in the evening. However, the remaining three continued the climb and reached the summit before dusk.
While attempting to descend, they lost their way. As darkness fell, they were forced to spend the night on the hill. Fortunately, they had mobile phones with network connectivity and contacted emergency helpline, 112.
The emergency response team immediately alerted the Pallahara fire services which launched a rescue operation early on Thursday. Pallahara fire officer Rabin Soren said, “After received information, we asked the stranded tourists to share their location, which helped our team reach them after a nearly three-hour trek.”
The firefighters successfully rescued all three tourists by around noon. The trio was later taken for a medical examination. Officials said they were safe.