Kerala trekker is healthy and unhurt, taken to homestay Kodagu superintendent of police Bindu Mani told TOI that Sharanya, who works for an IT company in Kochi and had booked a one-day trek as a solo traveller, has been successfully found. The woman from Nadapuram of Kozhikode is healthy and unhurt, police said.Sharanya was taken to Virajpet hospital before being driven to a homestay at Kakkabe, about one-hour drive from Madikeri.Police said the team included Kudiya tribals, who helped in tracing her in the hilly terrain. She reportedly faced problems due to a patchy mobile network and this was worsened with her cellphone battery prematurely running out of charge.Group returned safely while Sharanya got lostSources said Sharanya travelled from Kerala to Kodagu on April 1. She stayed at a homestay in Yavakapady village in Kodagu district. She went with a group of 15 trekkers on Thursday.While the group returned to the base safely the same evening, the solo traveller had not been accounted for by the end of the day, forcing authorities to launch a search operation on Thursday evening, Due to enveloping darkness, the operation was suspended within hours.On Friday, the search operation was widened to include foresters, cops, locals and tribal community members. The Kodagu district cops also sought help from Anti-Naxal Force familiar with rugged terrains. Saturday, the teams intensified the search, but failed to achieve a breakthrough.On Sunday, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah directed officials to use additional resources to locate Sharanya and bring her back safely. Forest minister Eshwar Khandre, too, asked the foresters to scale up the operation.
