Sharanya GS, a 36-year-old IT professional from Kerala who went missing during a trek in Kodagu, was found safe on Sunday, April 5, after an intensive four-day search operation, bringing relief to her family and authorities.
Sharanya had travelled to Karnataka for a solo trek and was staying at a homestay in Yavakapadi near Napoklu. On April 2, she began her trek to Tadiandamol after completing formalities at a Forest Department checkpoint, where officials had recorded her details and advised her to trek with a group due to the presence of wild elephants in the region. She subsequently joined a group of around ten trekkers.
During the trek, Sharanya got separated from the group and lost her way in the forest. At around 2 pm, she informed the homestay staff over the phone that she had lost her way. Her phone soon went out of network coverage, making further communication impossible.
While the rest of the group returned safely by evening, she failed to return. Some trekkers later said they had last seen her at the hilltop, where she was playing with a dog and had indicated that she would descend on her own.
“We were climbing down, but after a point, I realised that I could not see the others from my group. I walked a little bit and realised I was in a dense forest,” Sharanya told the media. She said that she only had a 500 ml water bottle with her. “I reached a place where there was a stream, and it was next to a rocky terrain. On the first day, my legs were hurting, so I didn’t move much. On the second day, I made sure that I was sitting in an open area because I thought that if a drone was being sent to take visuals, there would be visibility. On the third day, I tried to walk a little, but since it was raining, the area had become slippery,” she said.
“Every day, in the morning and evening, I would shout to see if somebody could hear me. Today also, I was sitting on top of a tree, and I heard someone, so I shouted. Some people heard and found me,” she said.
A large-scale search operation was launched involving forest officials, police personnel, anti-Naxal force teams, dog squads, and local tribal communities. Most of the teams had come back on Sunday evening without finding her. It was a team of Adivasi people who eventually found her.
At its peak, around 150 personnel were involved, with over 80 people combing the forest daily. Teams searched dense forest stretches, alternate trails and interior areas, with drones also deployed to aid the operation. However, difficult terrain, dense vegetation, and poor mobile connectivity hampered efforts.
After four days of sustained search, Sharanya was located in the forest area. She is safe and has been taken to Madikeri Medical College for a medical check-up.