Lost but not afraid: Kerala trekker recounts four days alone in Kodagu hills
Thiruvananthapuram/ Bengaluru (PTI): A 36-year-old woman from Kerala, who was found on Sunday after going missing for four days in the Tadiandamol hills of Karnataka’s Kodagu district, said she “lost her way somehow” but never felt afraid during the ordeal.
Appearing calm and composed, G S Sharanya, a native of Nadapuram in Kozhikode district of Kerala, walked out to the rescuers with a smile, recounting how she survived alone in the dense forest with limited resources and fading hope of contact.
She was part of a 10-member group that had set out for trekking on Thursday.
She was reported to have reached the Thadiyandamol trekking base around 7 am that day. Later, authorities were alerted after she failed to return, prompting a search operation soon after.
Addressing reporters after being rescued, she said, “I had lost my way. I could not see anyone when I climbed down. I came to a left-side path but could not find anyone."
With just a 500 ml bottle of water and no mobile connectivity, she said she tried contacting a colleague, before her phone ran out of charge.
“I walked till around 6.45 pm on the first day after losing the path. After that, I stayed in an open space near a stream as I could not proceed further because of the dense forest,” she said.
In the days that followed, she kept moving in the hope of finding help.
“In the days that followed, I kept walking expecting to meet someone,” she added.
Despite being alone in a forest area believed to be frequented by elephants and amid intermittent heavy rain, the woman said fear never overtook her.
“I did not feel scared. I don’t know why,” she said with a confident smile.
She was eventually spotted by a group of locals in a remote patch of the forest “where nobody usually goes”, according to members of the rescue team.
Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre confirmed that the woman had been found and was in good health.
A massive round-the-clock search operation involving nine teams—including forest officials, Anti-Naxal Squad members, and local tribal communities—had been launched soon after she was reported missing.
Sharanya, who was staying at a private homestay in Kakkabe village, had set out on April 2 for a trek to the Tadiandamol peak along with a guide and a group of trekkers but went missing later that day.
Officials said she had last contacted the homestay on Thursday, informing them that she had lost her way.
Search efforts were intensified on the directions of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, with additional personnel and advanced equipment, including thermal drone cameras, deployed to locate her.
State Forest Minister Khandre described her as “brave and adventurous”, noting that the lack of mobile connectivity in the forest had made it difficult to trace her location.
Authorities said she would be safely escorted back home to Kerala.
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ED arrests Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora in fresh PMLA case
New Delhi/Chandigarh (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday arrested Punjab industries minister Sanjeev Arora in a fresh money laundering case against him and some entities allegedly linked to him, officials said.
Arora was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after raids were conducted at his official residence in Chandigarh since early morning, they added.
Officials claimed Arora (62) was "non-cooperative" during the probe. He is expected to be produced before a local court on Saturday, where the agency will seek his custody for a detailed interrogation.
The ED carried out the searches at five premises across north India as part of the action.
The raids also covered two premises in Delhi and that of a company named Hampton Sky Realty Ltd in Gurugram's Udyog Vihar.
The searches were launched after the central agency registered a fresh case under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said.
