275 Mumbai schoolchildren rescued after 7-hour ordeal in Lonavla

More than 200 students of standard VIII and IX of Mumbai-based Leelavati Potdar International School went missing for nearly seven hours in the forest area of Lonavla on Saturday night.

The 275 students were among 335 from that school who were on a Lonavla-Khandala tour organised by a Mumbai-based trekking club and were accompanied by 23 teachers.

The Lonavla police said the students lost their way when returning to the buses after visiting Rajmachi fort near Lonavla, about 60 km from Pune. They were stranded in heavy rain and thick forest cover.

The Lonavla police and members of the local Shivdurg Mitra and Trekking Adventure Club rescued these students at around 2.15 am on Sunday.

“The students and teachers arrived at Lonavla in eight buses on Saturday at 9.30 am. They went to Tungarli and then decided to walk to Rajmachi fort, a distance of 15 km. But it was already late for such a trek. That stretch is full of waterfalls, nalas and dense forest,” said senior police inspector Vishnu Pawar of Lonavla police.

According to Pawar, the students reached the foothills of Rajmachi at 5.30pm. The teachers decided not to climb up as it was too late. “The entire team then decided to walk back 15km to Tungarli, where the buses were parked. The students were already tired and night was about to fall,” he said.

The students started their return journey at 6.15pm. In the dark, some of those that were more tired lagged behind.

While some students and teachers reached the buses at 10pm, there was no trace of the remaining. It rained heavily in Lonavla on Saturday night. Some students, on reaching the buses, contacted their parents and informed them about their missing friends.

The Pune rural police — Lonavla falls within its jurisdiction — received a fax message from the office of the director general of police about the missing students at around 11pm. The rural police immediately got in touch with the Lonavla police and directed them to trace the students.

Pawar said that by 11.30pm, police teams and members of Shivdurg Mitra and Trekking Adventure Club, led by Ajay Raut, started the search operation in and around Rajmachi fort.

“It was pitch-dark, but we managed to locate the students, who were sitting on the rocks and beneath the trees. Panic and fear were writ on their faces. We brought them  to Tungarli at around 2.15am,” Pawar said.

He blamed the organisers for mismanaging the trip. “The teachers should not have decided to climb the fort so late in the evening,” he said. The Lonavla police did not file any case against the organisers of the trip.