Army rescues trekker trapped in fault line in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 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. When 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. Incidentally, this is the biggest operation in the state to rescue one individual.

A team of Army officials, including a Keralite officer, rescued the trekker identified as Babu and provided him food and water. The Keralite officer is Lt Col Hemant, who studied at the now financially ailing Sainik School, here in the state capital city. The Army team from Wellington in Tamil Nadu arrived late last night and early Wednesday morning within an hour, an official went down 400 metres and rescued Babu.

The man is 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.