A young trekker, trapped between rocks on a hill in Kerala's Palakkad since Monday, was rescued this morning after a marathon effort by the Indian Army in a difficult and challenging operation. 

According to NDTV, R Babu climbed the Cherad Hill in Malampuzha along with two friends on Monday. Babu kept climbing even after his friends abandoned the effort, and reached the top, but he slipped and was trapped between two rocks.

"Teams from Bangalore Parachute Regimental Centre were mobilised. Simultaneously we had a highly skilled high-altitude warfare team and a couple of mountaineers who had summited Everest, available at the Madras Regimental Centre in Wellington, said Lt General A Arun, GoC, detailing the rescue operations.

The army team walked and climbed all night and as dawn broke, with the help of drones and cameras on board, identified the specific location, he said.

"Two highly skilled men of Madras Regimental Team, rappelled down the distance of 250 ft, till they reached Babu who is a young trekker and in a fantastic, daring decision making action, they decided to pull Mr Babu up instead of taking him downhill. So he was almost physically,  bodily carried uphill by two members of this descend team," said Lt Gen Arun.

The officer noted that the terrain was difficult, steep and bereft of trees.

"Chances high for a stone, boulder, or in this case a human being, who slips off the cliff, will almost find his way down. Mr Babu needs to consider him immensely fortunate, for being able to get stuck in that cleft," Lt Gen Arun was quoted as saying by the media.

"Very thanks, Indian Army," says the rescued man, R Babu, soon after he is hauled up to safety. R Babu, sitting around army men for a group photo, was seen kissing army personnel for saving his life.

(SAM)