New Delhi: A daily wage worker who was trapped for over 42 hours between two boulders in a forest in Telangana’s Kamareddy district was brought out Thursday after an arduous rescue operation that lasted more than 19 hours.
The massive exercise involved teams of geologists, forest officials and police personnel overseeing the blasting of around 10 massive boulders, some as high as 14 feet.
Chaada Raju, 32, a resident of Reddypet village, had gone to the Singarayapalli forest area with his friend Mahesh Tuesday evening. While attempting to retrieve his phone which had fallen into a crevice between the rocks, he fell and got stuck between two boulders, according to the Kamareddy police.
Mahesh waiting all of Tuesday night hoping that Raju would manage to extricate himself, and alerted the police the next day.
“Initially, about 30 policemen were at the spot trying to locate him. It appeared to us that Raju and his friend knew the passage well. But the tricky part was getting him out of the narrow space. He fell and got stuck from the waist down,” Kamareddy Superintendent of Police (SP) Srinivas Reddy told ThePrint.
The SP further explained that although Raju was stuck in a precarious spot, he kept communicating with the police personnel, who followed his voice to determine his location.
The rescue team that initially comprised of 30 policemen was joined by 20 others including a team of geologists, medical teams, revenue team and forest department officials.
Describing the cave, police personnel explained that Raju was stuck in a tiny opening between the massive boulders. To find him, they tried calling out to him through crevices in the rocks.
“We had to blast 10 massive boulders to make way for him to come out. We started off from the other side of the rocks. A team of geologists guided us on which rock can be blasted without causing more damage to the situation. Forest department officials also helped and medical teams were constantly checking up on him. Raju kept talking to us through most of our operation,” Reddy said.
The team used a JCB machine and a compressor to break through the boulders. A total of 50 policemen were on the ground during the operation.
After he was safely pulled out of the crevice, Raju was taken to Kamareddy Government Hospital where doctors pronounced his condition as stable. He however did sustain a few injuries, including one on his left hand.
“My entire body is aching,” a very feeble looking Raju told a regional channel from his hospital bed Thursday.
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A brother to the rescue
A big help to the police throughout the rescue operation was Raju’s brother Ashok, who managed to slip through the rocks and give him fluids to keep his energy levels up.
“Ashok knew the route that led to the area where Raju was stuck. He could go inside and tell us how exactly Raju was stuck. We sent water, instant energy drinks inside to keep Raju active,” said SP Reddy.
Ashok also kept Raju’s spirits up as he kept reassuring him that the rescue teams would go to any extent to get him out.
“He is my brother, so I would definitely do anything to save him. I could go in and give him water and juices. I kept talking to him throughout because it was very important that he doesn’t give up,” Ashok said.
According to a doctor at Kamareddy Government Hospital, Raju is in stable condition but his sugar levels are low. “He has injuries on his hands, shoulders and legs but nothing critical or major. We have also taken his blood sample and will also get X-rays done. We don’t see any major injuries anywhere. His blood pressure levels are also alright.”
(Edited by V S Chandrasekar)
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