Kerala forest personnel rescue lost police team from wilderness

A 14-member police team conducting a combing operation in a dense forest to trace cannabis cultivation in Palakkad district got lost during their return journey but was rescued early Wednesday morning by the Forest department's rapid response team.

Palakkad (Kerala): A 14-member police team conducting a combing operation in a dense forest area in this north Kerala district got lost during their return journey but was rescued early Wednesday morning by the Forest department's rapid response team.

The police team, which also included the Agali DySP, had gone to the Attappady forest after getting information about cannabis cultivation going on there.

The team found the cannabis cultivation and destroyed it, but the operation took time and it got dark while returning which resulted in them getting lost deep inside the forest, the DySP told the media.

He said that mobile networks were not available in many places and when they got connectivity, they informed the Forest department which dispatched a Rapid Response Team (RRT).

"The RRT team reached us around 1 am and then using GPS helped us come out of the forest," the DySP said.

He also said that there were wild animal-related problems, but the team was prepared to handle them.

A member of the RRT said they got information about the police team's predicament around 8 pm on Tuesday and immediately a 12-member unit was dispatched for rescue.

The forest official said that the team reached the police officers around midnight.

"They (police) were tired as they had been involved in a raid since morning. At around 6 am we started bringing them out using ropes and harnesses. We also provided them with food," he told TV channels.