india

Updated: Mar 26, 2019 07:43 IST

A Delhi-based college student who had gone missing on the Triund trek near McLeod Ganj about a week ago, was found alive by rescuers on Monday morning.

Himanshu Ahuja, 20, was found off the Triund trail by a team of local trekkers who were part of the rescue operation.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Santosh Patial, said Ahuja was found just below the Triund hilltop with a broken left foot.

Ahuja was part of group of 40 students and faculty of Maharaja Agarsen College, Delhi, who were on an excursion.

On March 19, the group had trekked to the Triund hill. During the return journey, Ahuja was left behind and lost his way. The group, on their return to McLeod Ganj, found him missing and filed a complaint with the local police. The police also took the help of army and sniffer dogs in the rescue operation.

SURVIVED ON SPRING WATER

While interacting with the media at district police headquarters, Ahuja said he had an argument with his friends and was walking behind the group. “I could not keep pace with them and fell behind,” he said.

Left behind, Ahuja tried to follow the footsteps of the others but slipped down a slope, hurt his foot and got stuck near a water spring. “I tried to call my friends from my cellphone but its battery drained out. My foot was swollen and I couldn’t move due to severe pain” he said.

He had nothing to eat as the snacks and biscuits he was carrying got over on the first day. “I found shelter under an overhanging rock and drank water from the nearby spring all these days, hoping that my friends or somebody else would come looking for me,” he said.

A member of the rescue team that traced Ahuja, Mahinder Bihan, said it was a miracle that Ahuja managed to survive in such harsh conditions. The temperature in the hills drops drastically in the evenings and there is also the threat of wild animals. “He had no food, no sleeping bag and not even proper clothing,” said Bihan.