An Indian hiker has been rescued after spending 48 hours trapped in a crevice on a treacherous slope on a hill in southern Kerala. R Babu, 23, from Malampuzha, fell into the hole on Kurumbachi hill in Palakkad on Monday. Army officers crawled for four hours to reach him. They gave him water before helping him to the hilltop. Indian Army drone footage showed the moment Mr Babu emerged safely with the aid of a rope as rescue teams cheered him. “In a spectacular action, highly qualified teams of the Indian Army have successfully rescued Mr Babu who slipped off a cliff and was stranded in a steep gorge for over 48 hours,” the Indian Army tweeted. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called in the army on Tuesday after other attempts to rescue Mr Babu failed. An Indian Air Force mountaineering team and the National Disaster Response Force also joined the operation. The rescued man had been hiking with three friends when he slipped and became stuck in the cleft of the hill. His friends tried wooden sticks, logs and ropes before descending the hill to seek the help of villagers and police. A coastguard helicopter sent to the ridge had to stop flying in bad weather. An Indian Navy helicopter tried to lower a rope but Mr Babu could not reach it. For more than two days, he painfully squatted in a tiny space without food and water. He suffered minor leg injuries. He sent pictures from his position trapped in the crevice to his family using WhatsApp, helping his rescuers locate him.
