Five students lost in dense Saptasajya forest rescued

The five students of Dhabaleswar Institute of Polytechnic after their rescue

DHENKANAL: Five diploma engineering students from Cuttack who lost their way in the dense Saptasajya forest were rescued by a joint team of police and the Forest department after a tireless operation that lasted several hours late on Sunday.

The rescued students, all aged between 19 and 22 years, are from Dhabaleswar Institute of Polytechnic in Cuttack. They were examined at Dhenkanal district headquarters hospital and found to be in good health despite being stranded in the jungle for more than 12 hours.

The students are Arkshita Mohapatra, Subham Mohapatra, Himanshu Das, and Lucky Das, all from Cuttack, and Sujit Sahoo from Dhenkanal.

The group had ventured into Saptasajya on two motorcycles around 11.30 am. They visited the Ram temple and had a darshan of the Sivalinga before deciding to trek deeper into the dense forest with the help of Google Maps. However, they soon lost their way and were unable to find their way back.

Eventually, they contacted their parents, who informed the police and forest officials of Dhenkanal.

Dhenkanal DFO Sumit Kar and SDPO Bibhuti Mohapatra rushed to Saptasajya to lead the rescue operation. Initial attempts to contact the missing students were unsuccessful. However, around 11 pm, the students were located, and the joint team advanced towards them despite the rain. They reached the students around midnight and rescued them from the top of the hill. The students were brought down to safety around 1.30 am.

DFO Kar said the rescued students were examined at the hospital and later released.