Kolhapur: Man stranded on tree in flooded river rescued 12 hours after he falls from bridge

More than 12 hours after falling into the water body, a 50-year-old man was found trapped on a tree in the overflowing Warna river on the border of Kolhapur and Sangli districts in western Maharashtra. He was rescued on Friday morning, an official said.

The personnel of the Kolhapur Disaster Response Force (KDRF) rescued the man, he said. Kolhapur district has been witnessing heavy rainfall over the past few days, due to which the level of water in several rivers, including the Panchganga and the Warna, has gone up.

A man, identified as Bajrang Khamkar, a resident of Lakhewadi village in Sangli’s Shirala, had gone to see the water level of the Warna river from a bridge around 9 pm on Thursday. But he fell into the water after losing balance, and was swept away by strong currents, Prasad Sankpal, Kolhapur district disaster management officer, said.

Today morning, some people saw him stranded on a tree in the middle of the swollen river and alerted the local administration, he said. The KDRF immediately dispatched a team to rescue the man, he said. Around 10.30 am, the squad comprising team commanders Krushna Sorte, Sunil Kamble, Shubham Katkar, Jeevan Kubde, Shravan and Somnath Sutar, rescued Khamkar from the tree using a rescue boat. They also provided him medical assistance, Sankpal said.