Video: Army rescues trekker trapped on hill cleft in Kerala without food and water for two days

Palakkad, February 9

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After being trapped in a cleft on a mountain face in Malampuzha area of Palakkad district in Kerala for nearly two days, rescue teams of the Army were able to reach Babu, provide him food and water and then haul him to safety.

Visuals on news channels showed the youth being helped up the mountain by Army personnel, who are part of the specialised teams which arrived here last night from Bengaluru, by strapping him to one of the rescuers.

Nerve-racking to even watch. Hope this young trekker, in his early 20s, is rescued successfully, as he precariously holed up on a hill cleft in Malampuzha. 🙏 Earlier attempts failed. The incident happened on Monday. Army deployed. IAF chopper on standby. #Kerala pic.twitter.com/0zmpqgEa0H

— Sneha Koshy (@SnehaMKoshy) February 9, 2022

The visuals also showed the rescue team slowly climbing up by making stops in between to give the youth some rest.

The youth was hauled up to safety by 10.08 am by the Army personnel and successfully completed the massive rescue effort, perhaps the first of its kind in the state, which involved local bodies, NDRF, Coast Guard with the Air Force also standing by to chip in.

Babu was trapped in a recess on the mountain face, between rocks, in the scorching heat with no water or food since Monday.

According to locals, the youth, along with two others had on Monday decided to climb to the top of Cherad hill there, but the other two abandoned the effort halfway.

However, Babu continued to climb to the top, and after reaching there, slipped and fell and got trapped between rocks on the mountain face.