Kerala Techie Missing For 4 Days During Trek At Tadiandamol Hills Search Intensified With Drones, Dog Squad

(MENAFN- Live Mint) GS Sharanya, a 36-year-old techie working at an IT firm in Kerala, has been missing for the past four days while she went to trek at Tadiandamol hills in Kodagu district of Karnataka. The governments of both the states have intensified search operations to look for the techie.

Additional personnel, dog squad, forest personnel and drone cameras have been deployed to search for her, Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre said on Sunday, April 5. He also said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed that search operation be intensified.

How GS Sharanya went missing

Sharanya had come alone from Kerala for the trek and stayed at a private homestay in Kakkabe village. According to the reports, Sharanya wanted to go to the trek solo, but the forest authorities hooked her up with a group due to heightened wild elephants' activities in the area.

She had gone to the high mountain range of Tadiandamol hills in Kodagu with a guide and 15 other trekkers on April 2. She went missing that afternoon.

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She had also informed the homestay that she had lost her way and might arrive late. However, her phone went out of reach after a while.

As soon as the matter was known, five teams of 50 people, including police, the anti-Naxal squad, a dog squad and forest personnel were formed, and are conducting searches, the minister's office said in a statement.

According to Khandre, CM Siddaramaiah expressed concern about the disappearance of the young woman who went on a trek and instructed that additional personnel be deployed for the search.

"Four additional teams of 40 personnel have been deployed today. A total of 9 teams are conducting the search operation. Honest efforts continue to find the missing young woman," he said.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, meanwhile, wrote to his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah, seeking urgent intervention in search for the young woman.

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Pinarayi Vijayan expressed concern over the disappearance of G S Sharanya, who reportedly went missing while trekking in the Thadiyandamol hills on April 2.

"It is understood that a search operation is underway to trace her. I request your kind personal intervention in the matter," Vijayan said in the letter.

He has also requested the Karnataka chief minister to intensify search in the area to locate the missing woman.

According to sources, Sharanya, a native of Nadapuram in Kozhikode district, was part of a 10-member group that had set out on a trekking trip on Thursday. She is reported to have reached the Thadiyandamol trekking base at around 7 am that day. Authorities were alerted after she failed to return.

A search operation was subsequently launched, but she has not been traced so far, sources added.

(With agency inputs)

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