72 hours on, 9 teams rescue 36-year-old Kerala trekker from Karnataka's Kodagu forests

MADIKERI: More than 72 hours after she lost her way while descending Tadiandamol, the highest peak in Kodagu district, Kerala's GS Sharanya, 36, was traced to Pattighat reserve range Sunday.Immediately after she got separated from other trekkers Thursday, Sharanya took shelter in an abandoned shack atop the peak. Since she wasn't confident of climbing down without assistance, she stayed put in the same region on Friday and Saturday, battling extreme weather, hunger, and uncertainties in a terrain home to wild animals.She was found by tribal community members around 4pm Sunday. Virajpet MLA AS Ponnanna, legal adviser to the CM, told TOI that he rushed to Tadiandamol and interacted with Sharanya.Police and govt sources said nine teams conducted the operation in close coordination, with foresters bringing in sophisticated thermal drone cameras to sharpen the search for the missing trekker.

Kerala trekker is healthy and unhurt, taken to homestay Kodagu superintendent of police Bindu Mani told TOI that Sharanya, who works for an IT company in Kochi and had booked a one-day trek as a solo traveller, has been successfully found.

The woman from Nadapuram of Kozhikode is healthy and unhurt, police said.Sharanya was taken to Virajpet hospital before being driven to a homestay at Kakkabe, about one-hour drive from Madikeri.Police said the team included Kudiya tribals, who helped in tracing her in the hilly terrain. She reportedly faced problems due to a patchy mobile network and this was worsened with her cellphone battery prematurely running out of charge.Group returned safely while Sharanya got lostSources said Sharanya travelled from Kerala to Kodagu on April 1. She stayed at a homestay in Yavakapady village in Kodagu district. She went with a group of 15 trekkers on Thursday.While the group returned to the base safely the same evening, the solo traveller had not been accounted for by the end of the day, forcing authorities to launch a search operation on Thursday evening, Due to enveloping darkness, the operation was suspended within hours.On Friday, the search operation was widened to include foresters, cops, locals and tribal community members. The Kodagu district cops also sought help from Anti-Naxal Force familiar with rugged terrains. Saturday, the teams intensified the search, but failed to achieve a breakthrough.On Sunday, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah directed officials to use additional resources to locate Sharanya and bring her back safely. Forest minister Eshwar Khandre, too, asked the foresters to scale up the operation.