The members of Kharghar Citizens’ Forum saved the life of a teenager who fell during a trek and hit his head against a rock on Tuesday morning.
Arjun Garad, a member of the forum, said they were playing a game of volleyball at the golf course when they heard the cries of a boy. They saw a teenager running towards them and asking them to save his friend who suffered a fall while climbing Pandavkada mountain. The boy said that he and four of his friends from Kharghar, who had just appeared for Class X exams, had planned to trek the mountain. The boy said that his friend Digvijay Shinde, a resident of Sector 20 in Kharghar, had overtaken the group and had almost reached the summit of the mountain, when he lost balance and fell on a rock around 50 metres below.
Mr. Garad said that the members of the forum then swung into action. While one of them dialled 108 for the ambulance, another went to fetch his car. One more member went to get his bike, and the rest of us started climbing the mountain. He said, “It took 25 minutes for us to find the boy and another 20 minutes to bring him down. We rolled him up in a blanket and carried him down.”
Mr. Garad said that they took the boy to a hospital in Khargar in a car because the ambulance had not yet arrived. The hospital authorities said that the boy had sustained serious head injuries and had to be taken to another hospital.
He said, “We then took him to Apollo Hospital. He is now said to be out of danger.” Mr. Garad said that the teenagers had not informed their parents about the trek. “The route they took was very risky. They should have taken someone experienced along with them,” he said.
An officer from the Kharghar police said, “We have taken note of the incident. Since no one has filed a complaint, we have not registered a case yet.”