Pilgrims rescued three days after losing their way in forests

A group of sixteen pilgrims from Gulbarga in Karnataka had to be airlifted in a helicopter to reach their destination after they lost their way in the thick forests of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The devotees, who had embarked on a journey by foot to the pilgrim centre of Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district to fulfill a vow, lost their way and wandered in the deep forests aimlessly without food or water for four days before they were rescued.

Police said the sixteen pilgrims from Yadgir in Gulbarga set out on foot on February 18 for Srisailam. Everything went on well for almost three days till February 20. But, when they decided to take a short cut through the forests upon the advice of locals in a village in Andhra Pradesh, the pilgrims just lost their way. Soon, they were literally in the woods as they were stuck deep inside the jungles without any mobile phone link.

The devotees just walked in the forests for three days, thirsty and hungry, till they fortunately strayed into a pocket with mobile phone coverage. They managed to contact their relatives, who in turn communicated their plight to Gulbarga district police.

The message was conveyed to the police in Andhra Pradesh, who formed two special teams comprising even forest officials, and located the devotees with the help of global positioning system. The hapless pilgrims were located near Neelaganga on the banks of river Krishna seven kms from Srisailam.

The Andhra Pradesh police deployed a helicopter, which located the group, and managed to shift the starving and exhausted devotees to Srisailam Government hospitals. Eventually, the pilgrims were discharged from the hospital and managed to visit the Temple in Srisailam on Monday.