As many as 16 devotees from Gurmitkal, who were missing in the thick forest of Srishailam for the last three days, were successfully rescued by Andhra Pradesh police on Monday.

The devotees had left for Srishailam on foot from Sanklapur near Gurmitkal on February18 and while walking through the thick forest they lost their way. They kept wandering in the thick forest for three days from February 21. The devotees lost their contact and they could not be reached on cellphone.

Finally, one of them tried his best by climbing on to a tree and to his goodluck got the mobile network and he phoned his relatives in Gulbarga. They were starving for food and water.

When the message was flashed at Achchampet police station in AP, the police swung into action. Two helicopters were pressed into rescue operation on Sunday night. After frantic search for several hours they were traced around 9 am on Monday in the forest. Food and water packets were air dropped. They were rescued in two teams of eight persons each and taken to Srishailam, reports reaching here said.

The youth, all below the age of 25 years, were from three villages- Idlur, Jaigram and Sanklapur. They were on a maiden pilgrimage to Srishailam. The devotees who have been safely rescued are Ashok Ramanna, Navinkumar, Venkatappa, Krishna, Basavaraj (all from Sanklapur); Anjappa, Paratapreddy, Taragouda, Balaram, Shankrappa, Venkatesh, Sabappa, Lingappa, Thayappa, Basappa and Ashok all from Jaigram and Idlur villages.