Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal

Bantwal, July 31: A 75-year-old man who had been missing under mysterious circumstances for the past three days was found alive but in a life-threatening condition inside a drainage channel after an extensive search operation at Kukkila in Vitla Padur village on Friday morning.

The elderly man, Giriyappa Sapalya (75), a resident of Kukkila in Vitla Padur village, had disappeared three days ago, prompting his family to lodge a missing person complaint with the Vittal police station.

The Fire and Emergency Services Department was also alerted, and rescue personnel launched a search in nearby ponds and streams where he was feared to have fallen. Despite sustained efforts, the initial operation failed to trace him.

Refusing to give up hope, relatives, members of the Kodapadavu Maruti Friends team and local residents mounted a fresh search on Friday morning. Their efforts paid off when Giriyappa was discovered lying in a severely weakened and critical condition in a water drainage channel running through an arecanut plantation at Kukkila.

Local residents sprang into action, pulled him out of the drain, administered first aid at the scene and rushed him to the Government Hospital in Vittal for emergency treatment.

Hospital sources said the elderly man has been responding well to treatment and is now out of danger, bringing immense relief to his anxious family and the search teams that had been looking for him over the past three days.

The rescue operation was spearheaded by Manohar of the Kodapadavu Maruti Friends team, along with Madhava Mave, district BJP spokesperson, Aravinda Rai, president of the Mani Mahashakti Kendra, Umesh Shetty, president of the Raitha Morcha, and volunteers Seetharama Gowda, Murali Bhat and Manohar Kukkila, with active support from local residents.