Missing for 15 days, Odisha teacher found alive in ravine after goat herder hears cries

Trapped in a forest ravine and cut off from the outside world, a 47-year-old primary school teacher in Odisha’s Kandhamal district survived for nearly a fortnight on muddy rainwater and whatever edible food he could find. He was rescued on Saturday after a young goat herder heard his faint cries for help while grazing his animals in the forest.

Mohan Kumar Maharana, a teacher at Sarsapeta Primary School in the Duba area of Kandhamal, had been missing for 15 days after heavy rainfall and a massive landslide triggered by Cyclone Arnab on October 29. He was returning from school when the landslide struck near Dangesi village, trapping him in the forested hillside.

“As a young goat herder had ventured into the forest with his animals, he heard a faint voice coming from the area. On approaching the spot, he found Maharana lying in an extremely weak condition on a rock inside the ravine. The herder immediately alerted the villagers and police,” said Raikia police station officer-in-charge A Swarnalata Patra, who led the rescue operation along with police personnel and local villagers.

As the hillside gave way near Dangesi village, residents fled towards safer locations, but Maharana became separated from the others. In the darkness and confusion, he slipped into a deep ditch or ravine. With no one around to hear his cries for help, he remained stranded in the forest, unable to find a way out.

Continuous rainfall, flooding and the absence of mobile network connectivity in the area compounded his ordeal. His cries gradually weakened as hunger and exhaustion took their toll.

Maharana’s wife said her husband struggled to survive in the forest for several days. “He drank muddy water collected in the ditch and from nearby streams to quench his thirst. He also managed to eat whatever edible things he could find in the forest. At one stage, he became so physically weak that he could no longer attempt to escape,” she said.

After he went missing, his family approached Raikia police station, where a missing-person complaint was lodged on November 5. Police also alerted residents of neighbouring villages, asking them to report any information about the teacher.

“We tried calling him on his mobile phone but knew it would be futile, considering the area has patchy mobile network coverage and his phone would have run out of battery in the rain,” his wife said.

Although the goat herder found Maharana, bringing him out of the ravine was a formidable challenge. Rescuers had to trek nearly seven to eight kilometres through dense forest and difficult hilly terrain. They eventually carried him out on a makeshift stretcher fashioned from a wooden pole and a bedsheet.

Maharana was taken to Raikia Community Health Centre for treatment. Doctors said prolonged starvation and physical exhaustion had left him extremely weak. He had also suffered cuts and other injuries during the ordeal. His family demanded that he be shifted to Phulbani Medical College and Hospital for better treatment.

Officials said Cyclone Arnab and the subsequent landslide had disrupted normal life in Raikia, with residents of affected villages evacuated to government relief shelters, including one at Manikeshwar. “With the school closed and villagers moved to safer locations, the forested surroundings remained largely deserted, which is why no one could find him for so long,” Patra said.

The landslide near Dangesi also killed three members of a family, including a nine-month-old boy, when their hilltop house was buried under debris.

In neighbouring Ganjam district, Cyclone Arnab triggered another landslide in Gidipabali village, where five bodies were recovered after an extensive search. The district administration on Monday suspended search and rescue operations after families of six missing persons submitted written requests asking officials to stop the operation. They said their houses and family members could be buried under massive rocks and debris at an estimated depth of around 30 feet.