Kerala trekker, stuck on hill for 2 days, kisses Army personnel after being rescued

Chandigarh, February 9

The Army on Wednesday rescued a trekker who got trapped in a fault line of the Koormbachi hillock in Kerala’s Palakkad on February 7. As he was rescued, a video surfaced online showing the 23-year-old man kissing Indian Army personnel. He was rescued from a steep gorge in Malampuzha mountains on Wednesday.

R Babu was trapped in the gorge without food and water for two days. In the video, Babu is heard thanking the Army personnel who saved his life and shouting, ‘Indian Army ki jai’.

Earlier, Kerala’s rescue teams failed to lift the trekker to safety even after a 40-hour operation, the Army and Air Force help was sought after that. The man has now being moved to a hillock before being airlifted.

Once he is brought from there, he will be shifted to a state-run hospital. Babu, 23, along with three of his friends, had climbed the hillock and while coming down, he slipped and fell into the fault line, on Monday afternoon.

After failing to rescue him, his friends rushed downhill and alerted the locals and soon came the rescue team, but they too failed.

On Tuesday, an Indian Coast Guard’s Chetak helicopter attempted the rescue operations, but, due to inclement weather, was unable to complete the mission.