Kerala Girl, On A Hike With 40 Relatives In Karnataka, Goes Missing

A 14-year-old girl from Kerala went missing during a family trip to the Chandradrona hill range in Karnataka, with the police engaged in a search operation for more than 24 hours.

Sri Nanda - a Class 10 student - was on a hike with around 40 relatives to a tourist point on the Chandradrona hills on April 7. According to the police, she went missing around 5:30 pm when darkness set in. Despite continuous search efforts by family members initially, she could not be traced, prompting a police complaint.

The complaint was filed on April 8 by her family member, Shashikumar K G (55) - a resident of Kadampazhippuram village in Kerala's Palakkad district.

The cops immediately launched a search operation in the deep ghat sections and steep terrains of the hills. Officials are using ropes to access difficult areas, while drone surveillance has also been deployed during night operations. A Kerala police official is also assisting the investigation.

The girl was seen in a video with one of her family members in the hills.

However, the girl has not yet been traced.

Kerala techie missing case

This comes days after a woman techie from Kerala, GS Sharanya, went missing for four days during a trek in Karnataka.

On April 2, the 36-year-old IT professional set out to climb Thadiyandamol, the highest peak in Kodagu, Karnataka. While trekking down, she got separated from her group and lost her way. She tried tracing her path back to the group but ended up deep in a dense forest, where she spent four days, surviving on nothing but water - before she was located and rescued.

In an interview with NDTV,  Sharanya said that she began trekking with a group of 12 people at around 8 am and reached the peak by 10:40 am, and soon started climbing down.

"I was moving ahead with two of the trekkers, but I was moving a little faster, and as a result, I got separated from them. When I looked back, I saw them sitting on a rock, so I decided to wait, but when I looked back again, they were nowhere to be seen. I tried looking for other trekkers, who were on the top, towards my left. I decided to join them there, but by the time I reached the pitstop, they were nowhere to be found," she said.

The techie then tried messaging a friend, but her phone died before she could hit the send button. "I didn't carry food since it was considered an easy trek. I survived on three litres of water every day," she said.

The rural unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Kodagu district has submitted a complaint, raising suspicions regarding the techie's missing case. The leaders believe that the techie "faked" the incident and caused losses to the government.

Karnataka to develop tracker app

The Karnataka government has decided to introduce a mandatory Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for trekking activities, following two missing incidents in a span of two days. 

Officials are exploring the introduction of an e-tracking system for trekkers, similar to its existing e-patrol and M-STEPS applications used in tiger reserves. Under this system, a temporary tracking app would be installed on trekkers' mobile phones during the trekking period, enabling authorities to quickly locate individuals in case they go missing.

Additionally, the government is planning to mandate wireless communication systems for certified nature guides, fix accountability on trek leaders, and introduce group insurance coverage for trekkers.