Friends confident of AP mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu survival

Hyderabad: It’s not just hope that keeps the friends of mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu optimistic about his return. There have been cases of people surviving for close to four months in mountain ranges with hardly any supplies.

These stories are the driving force for trekker Umashankar Kopalle, a native of Hyderabad, now based in Illinois, United States of America, who has been rallying support for Mr Babu on social media. Having stayed in Chile and trekked in the Andes, he is very optimistic as he pulls all the strings possible to get the right kind of support.

Mr Kopalle says, “Malli Masthan is alive. He can easily survive as long as he has his tent and is not injured. These two factors are imperative.”

He also quotes a case where a man survived in these mountain ranges for close to four months. “He lived off rats that he trapped,” he explains, “As to water, there are lagunas around the mountain ranges.”

Ray of hope

In 1972, Chilean Air Force found 14 survivors from a plane that crashed in the Argentine Andes after two months of the accident. They survived on chocolate bars, sweets and light food from the luggage. For warmth, they huddled inside the aircraft and used whatever they could find to plug up holes.

A book, titled, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, by the British writer Piers Paul Read documents the events of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.

In 2013, news emerged of a sex offender being found in Andes. Raúl Fernando Gómez, 58, Cincunegui was found 9,300 ft above sea level, in the shadow of Mt Aconcagua. He had been crossing the Andes on motorbike when his vehicle broke down, forcing him to continue on foot to the refuge, where he survived on rats he trapped.