NDRF saves youth and his dog marooned on hillock

BENGALURU: A 20-year-old shepherd, along with his dog, had to spend 24 hours on an island in Hunasangi taluk of Yadgir district with a raging river flowing downstream.


Topanna, who had gone to the hillock on the outskirts of Janginagadi village early on Saturday, was rescued by a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) by Sunday evening.

With excessive rain in the region and the dam filled to brim, the authorities had released up to 2.2 lakh cusecs of water from Narayanpura dam into Krishna river. This made Topanna’s return difficult.

Soon after his father Teekappa alerted, officials reached out to the Karnataka state disaster management authority’s commissioner Manoj Ranjan. “I contacted NDRF stationed in Dharwad, but their personnel were stuck with rescue operations in Kodagu. Then I reached out to NDRF southern region commandant Shahid Khan in Hyderabad who sent 15 members to the district immediately,” said Ranjan.