Telangana: Man stuck between rocks rescued after 43 hours

Raju, a native of Reddypet village, had gone to hunt wild animals in the nearby forest on Tuesday night. He accidentally slipped into a gap in a huge rock on a hillock and got stuck.

Nizamabad: Nearly 43 hours after he got trapped in a crevice between huge boulders on a hillock, Shada Raju was successfully rescued in the Ghanpur forest area of Ramareddy mandal in Kamareddy on Thursday. Except for minor injuries on his hand and exhaustion, his condition was stated to be stable.

Thirty-six-year-old Raju along with his friend Mahesh, both natives of Reddipet village, had gone into the nearby Ghanpur forest area on Tuesday, allegedly to hunt wild animals. While they were walking on a hillock called Singarayapalli Puligutta, he accidentally dropped his mobile phone and when he attempted to retrieve it, he slipped and fell into the small opening between the boulders. He got stuck in the crevice since Tuesday evening.

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Mahesh stayed with him overnight, even as the family members in the village started getting worried as the duo did not return home. “Despite repeated efforts, Raju could not get himself out. I too tried to pull him out, but in vain,” Mahesh told mediapersons. As things were getting worse, he alerted the villagers who along with Raju’s relatives tried to rescue him, but failed.

On Wednesday afternoon, the villagers informed the police who along with Revenue, Forest and Fire Services teams, launched rescue operations. They deployed two JCBs and other digging equipment along with ropes and drilling machines to remove the boulders.

“With no major progress, we took up controlled blasting of the boulders to create a gap for Raju to move his head out,” Kamareddy district SP B Srinivas Reddy told Telangana Today, adding that they had covered him with a bedsheet to prevent any splinters falling on him.

After pulling out Raju, he was immediately shifted to the Kamareddy Government Hospital in an ambulance that was kept ready.

The officials carried out the rescue operation throughout Wednesday night using generators and after more than 18 hours of struggle, they were able to rescue him on Thursday afternoon. In the meanwhile, they gave liquid foods, ORS and glucose to keep Raju hydrated. They had arranged oxygen supply, but Raju was able to breathe due to the narrow opening between the boulders.