‘Lost but not afraid’: Kerala techie rescued after 3 days in Kodagu hills

A 36-year-old techie from Kerala, G S Sharanya, was rescued on Sunday after going missing for three days while trekking to Tadiandamol Peak in Karnataka’s Kodagu district. She had vanished during a group trek, but stayed calm with just a 500-ml bottle of water and no phone signal.

Sharanya, from Nadapuram in Kozhikode district, told reporters she "lost her way somehow" on April 2 but never felt scared. "I tried calling a colleague before my phone died," she recounted. "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. In the days that followed, I kept walking expecting to meet someone."

Rescuers found her around 5.30 pm Sunday inside an abandoned temple in a remote forest patch "where nobody usually goes." Local tribals had spotted her a day earlier and alerted the team. Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre confirmed she was safe and healthy: "I spoke to her. She is healthy and is not facing any complications." His office shared a photo of Sharanya with her rescuers.

The 4-km trek to Tadiandamol, Kodagu's third-highest peak at 1,748 metres, was part of a scheduled group of 15 trekkers led by an authorized guide from Madikeri Forest Division. Staying at a nearby homestay, Sharanya had informed her team by phone that she was lost before signal failed.

A massive multi-agency search launched at 2 pm on April 2 involved nearly 70 personnel from police, Anti-Naxal Force, forest staff, and volunteers. Twelve teams combed the area using thermal drones, phone tracking, call data analysis, and sniffer dogs, with tribal coordination.