Kerala breathed a collective sigh of relief on Wednesday morning after the Indian Army pulled
off a rescue feat by saving a trapped trekker who had spent 45 hours without water or food in a crevice
on a tall cliff.

The daunting operation to rescue R. Babu, 23, which was telecast live without break, made the army the toast of the politically aware state where questions are often asked about the human rights record of the security forces in conflict zones like Kashmir.

The soldiers were lauded all the more because they had accomplished within a few hours what others had failed to achieve despite multiple efforts over more than a day.

The composure shown by Babu’s mother Rasheeda and her confidence in the Indian Army have also
been widely hailed.

Babu himself played a decisive role by holding his nerve and sending photographs using his phone, without which it would have been difficult to locate him.

The soldiers, trained in mountaineering and rock climbing, launched the operation at daybreak to save Babu, who had slipped and got stuck in the crevice on Monday during a hiking trip with two friends to a rocky mountain at Malampuzha in Palakkad, northern Kerala.

Unable to rescue him, Babu’s friends trekked down the hill, whose peak is 1,000 metres above sea level, to inform local police who rushed forces to the hill at night. However, they could do little since Babu was stranded on the sheer hill face at around 400 metres from the top.

Although Babu had slipped and fallen, the mobile phone in his pocket came in handy. He clicked selfies and shared them with friends, helping the police and rescue workers zero in on his location that was not visible from the top or the bottom of the mountain.

A coast guard helicopter had on Tuesday made a futile attempt to rappel Babu up by dropping a cable. But the chopper had to return as the pilots could not get anywhere near him because of the difficult profile of the hill. A team from the National Disaster Response Force, too, failed to reach him.

Babu endured windy conditions in the hot and arid area and survived two nights squatting inside the crevice, about 600 metres above the sea level, without food or water.

It was chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan who sought the army’s help. The arrival of the soldiers from Bangalore in Karnataka and Wellington in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday evening elevated the hopes of Babu’s mother Rasheeda and those gathered in large numbers at the foothills.

At 9.30am on Wednesday, a soldier rappelled down 400 metres from the top of the hill and found Babu inside his crevice. The soldier helped Babu climb the 400 metres to the top of the hill where his army colleagues hauled them up, ending the young man’s ordeal.

Babu thanked the armed forces. “Thanks to the Indian army,” he said in a video clip before planting kisses on his rescuers.

An air force Mi-17 helicopter flew Babu to the helipad at Kanjikode in Palakkad from where a medical team on standby took him to the district government hospital.

Rasheeda told reporters she would chide Babu for trekking up such a tricky hill. “I am very happy he has been rescued. But like every mother, I will scold him for climbing that hill,” she said.

Several elected representatives and ministers thanked the armed forces for the daring mission that saved the young man’s life. “Thanks to the soldiers who led the rescue operation and everyone who provided timely support,” the chief minister tweeted shortly after Babu’s rescue.