Palakkad : The mountaineering team of the Indian Army on Wednesday rescued the 23-year-old youth who slipped and fell into a hill cleft at Cherad Hill in Malampuzha on Monday noon. Southern Command Indian Army tweeted that “In a spectacular action, highly qualified Teams of Indian Army have successfully rescued Mr Babu who slipped off a cliff & was stranded in a steep gorge for over 48 hours. The operation was coordinated by #DakshinBharatArea under the aegis of #SouthernCommand @adgpi https://t.co/Pcksj6WEBS.” “In a daring mission Indian Army Team from #SouthernCommand has rescued the stranded trekker, Mr Babu to safety from the dangerous cliff, across the treacherous rocky mountain face. #WeCare @adgpi https://t.co/NrIwGyaD59,” it added From this morning onwards, mountaineering experts, who reached the spot last night with all the modern equipments, began the rescue operation and managed to provide him with water and food at 0930 hrs. The youth was brought to the top of the hill by around 1015 hrs after a hefty task lasting 40 minutes by the rescue team who finally rescued him after 45 hours. The District Administration is also planning to airlift the youth from the hill top to the Government General Hospital after assessing his health condition by a medical team at the base camp. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed happiness and thanked the Army team and the members of other rescue teams involved in the rescue operation. R Babu, who hails from Cheradu at Malampuzha, slipped and fell into the cleft on Monday noon while descending the nearby Kurumbachi hills at Elichiram in Palakkad district of Kerala. The accident happened when Babu and three of his friends were trekking in the hills. Two Army Officers, two JCOs and five other ranks from Wellington arrived at the location last night. On Tuesday, an Indian Coast Guard’s Chetak Helicopter attempted for the rescue operation, but, due to inclement weather, it was unable to complete the mission. Coast Guard Helicopter will be attempting the next sortie in the early hours of Wednesday, defence sources added. Indian Air Force (IAF) transported another mountaineering team of Indian Army from Bangalore to Sulur to send them to Malampuzha. On Tuesday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sought the help of the Army to rescue the youth following the request from the district administration. General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Dakshin Bharat, Lieutenant General A Arun informed the Chief Minister’s office last evening that a special team left to Palakkad by road for the rescue operation. Last night, another team of Para Commandos from Bangalore was arlifted to Sulur Airbase to send them to Malampuzha by road. UNI DS RKM
