Techie, kin stuck for 28 hrs in gorge, rescued

For 28 hours, a techie from Bengaluru and his family struggled deep in a ravine amid dipping mercury in the dense Varandha Ghat after their car met with an accident.

The police and local trekkers managed to pull them out only on Monday.

An employee of Cognizant Technologies, Arvind Kannaberan, and five family members were on their way to Mahabaleshwar from Mumbai for Christmas vacation.

While Arvind’s parents, V G Kannaberan (70) and Jamuna (55), died on the spot, the rest were rescued from a 800-feet gorge 28 hours later.

A family member told Deccan Herald that the Ford Fiesta they were travelling in was thrown down the ghats after  head-on collision with a truck.

Arvind, his cousin Sunil Mahendra (36), sister Anupama (42) and her daughter Arpita Vijay Raghavan (14) suffered minor injuries.

A visibly shaken Arvind told reporters at the accident spot that they were all in a state of shock. “We were struck there for several hours,” he said.

Arvind’s cousin Ramesh said that Sunil managed to contact them only on Sunday afternoon after spending the night in the dense ghats.

“I then got in touch with Mumbai Police commissioner and sought help from the human rights commission. Then, a group of trekkers and eight teams of police set out in search of them and managed to reach them at 1:30 am on Monday,” he added. 

While the family contacted Satara Police, they in turn informed the Mahabaleshwar Trekkers’ Group, whose volunteers swung into action and searched Pratapgarh Ghats, Wai Ghats and hilly areas of Raigad district.

“In the Bhor-Mahad stretch of nearly 80 km there are a few places where you get mobile signals,” said Vijay Jadhav, a Bhor-based journalist, adding that based on the SMS, an attempt was made to locate the mobile towers.

The Bhor police station and the MIDC police station carried out searches, including in some chronic accident spots, but they could not locate anything.

“Ultimately, the location was checked and three mobile towers were zeroed in–Terna, Kopodi and Kurunjikar. By that time, we shortlisted the places to be checked,” he said, adding that at around 1:30 am on Monday, the vehicle was located and expert trekkers climbed down the gorge with necessary medical aid and equipments. By morning, the rescue operations ended.

The family is on their way back to Bengaluru in two ambulances carrying the bodies. They are expected to reach the City on Tuesday.
DH News Service