PALAKKAD: 36 hours have passed since R Babu, 23, a native of Cherad near Malampuzha, fell into a cleft while trekking in the nearby Elichiram Kurumbachi Hills, but rescue teams including of the Army and NDRF are yet to reach him. They have not been able to provide him food or drinking water either till Tuesday evening. Babu was able to send the location and his photos from his mobile phone on Monday, but it got switched off later in the day.
After Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sought the assistance of the Army to rescue the youth, a team comprising members who are proficient in mountaineering and rescue operations, reached Malampuzha from Bengaluru late in the night. Collector Mrunmai Joshi told reporters that the actual rescue operation will start at the crack of dawn on Wednesday,
Babu, a newspaper boy, had set out for trekking on Monday noon along with three friends. On their way back, Babu took a shorter route, but slipped and fell into the cleft. The friends threw creepers and sticks, but that did not help.
They returned and informed the police and fire force, who began the rescue operations on Monday evening itself, according to Malampuzha MLA A Prabhakaran, who is in Thiruvananthapuram and is coordinating with the chief minister’s office (CMO). From the bottom of a hill, Babu can be seen seated in a hole in its middle. However, nothing is visible from the top.
Babu’s mom: I could see him, he gestured to me
On Tuesday afternoon, a Coast Guard helicopter joined the rescue mission but it could not airdrop its personnel due to inclement weather and returned to its base in Kanjikode. “It takes more than four hours to reach the place by foot. The first priority is to provide food and water to Babu.
Efforts to provide drinking water using a drone had failed,” said Malampuzha panchayat president Radhika Madhavan, who is camping in the area. Weather is another challenge. While heat is unbearable during daytime, mercury drops drastically in the evening.
Rescue team members said that when they shouted, the youth responded and asked for drinking water. District Collector Mrunmai Joshi, district police chief R Viswanath and Additional District Magistrate K Manikantan are overseeing the rescue mission.
Joshi said the height of the hills could be about 1,000 metres. “My son wants food and water. I could see him and he gestured to me. I told him not to shout because he would get tired,” said Babu’s mother Rashidha.