Ten college students from Chitradurga, including five boys and five girls, were rescued after getting lost during a trek in the dense Ballalarayana Durga forest in Mudigere taluk, Chikkamagaluru district. The group had travelled in a hired Tempo Traveller for an adventure trip.

The students had booked their trek to Rani Jhari online. However, relying on Google Maps, they searched for “Bandaje trekking” and were misdirected to Didape in Dakshina Kannada. From there, they trekked to the Bandaje waterfalls.

Trouble began on their return journey when they attempted to exit via Ballalarayana Durga and Rani Jhari. Darkness fell, and they were soon disoriented, with no mobile signal and Google Maps rendered useless.

Upon being informed, a six-hour search was launched by Balur Police Sub-Inspector Dileep Kumar, forest personnel, wildlife rescuer “Snake Arif,” and local volunteers. The search team managed to locate the tired but safe students around 2 a.m.

The trekkers, including medical and other college students, were escorted back and sent to Chitradurga in their vehicle.

Authorities urged better planning for treks in forest areas and advised not to rely solely on GPS tools, especially in remote zones with no network coverage.