Missing 'Kotiraj' spent whole night amidst rocks, spotted by rescue teams

SHIVAMOGGA: Rock climber Jyothi Raj alias 'Kotiraj' who went missing while searching for a body down near Jog Falls, is alive and was traced on Wednesday morning. The fire brigade, police and the locals noticed him below Raja Falls and his team members tried to lift him up. With this, the locals, his team members and his fans heaved a sigh of relief.

On Tuesday afternoon, Jyothi Raj and his team climbed down Jog Falls to search for the body of Bengaluru-based youth Manjunath, who is said to have committed suicide at the falls. As the team failed to trace the body of the youth, they climbed back up by evening, to soon realise that Jyothi Raja has gone missing during the search.

According to sources, while climbing down the falls, Jyothi Raj slipped into a small cave amidst the rock structure and sustained minor injuries. He could not climb up at this stage as the rocks are slippery. As a result, he spent the whole night on the rock, and Thursday morning, he tried to climb up. By that time, the fire brigade, police and a ten-member team of his friends from Chitradurga and a ten-member rescue team from Bengaluru who were searching for him noticed his movement below the Raja Falls.

He was given breakfast and other energy drinks as soon as he reached the viewpoint at the bottom of the falls. Now efforts are on to bring him up safely.

Eyewitnesses said that Jyothi Raj was really a courageous person. He spent the whole night amidst the rocks and before reaching the bottom of the falls, he jumped into the water at the bottom and was swimming, they said.

Unfortunately, the body of the youth was not traced during his search operation.