A two-year-old girl who went missing from an estate worker’s house was recently miraculously reunited with her parents after spending an entire night safely alone near the fringes of a forest in Karnataka’s Kodagu district.
Story continues below this ad
The incident was reported on November 28 when Sunanya was playing with two other children in a coffee plantation in B Shattigeri. Her parents, Sunil and Nagini, estate workers from a beekeeping family, had arrived with her at the private estate just five days prior.
Nagini was glued to her phone and realised that her daughter was missing around 6 pm when the two other children returned. She informed her husband, and they immediately notified the police and forest officials.
Story continues below this ad
More than 100 people, including residents, the police, and forest personnel, joined the mission to find Sunanya. Four pet dogs also joined them, as they have a keen sense of detecting the presence of wild animals.
“We started the operation around 7 pm on November 28 and continued until 9.30 pm. But there was no result,” said a local police officer.
Story continues below this ad
“We were very much concerned because there were tiger footprints and half-eaten carcasses of a wild bison near the forest boundary. By then, we had covered at least 1-1.15 km radius of the region,” the officer added.
The search to find Sunanya began the next morning, around 6.30 am. About three hours later, one of the pet dogs, Oreo, started barking, indicating that Sunanya had been found.
“It was the highest point of the estate. We found Sunanya staying in the middle of the bush close to the forest boundary. We all had a great sigh of relief when she was found,” said the officer.
Story continues below this ad
Speaking to The Indian Express, Kollira Bopanna, gram panchayat president, said that the biggest fear they had was that wild animals would have killed the child.
“There are a lot of wild animals, including tigers and elephants, in the region. We don’t step out at night and remain cautious when we travel. It was god’s grace that the kid remained unharmed and managed to stay in the plantation,” he said.
“She spent the entire night without food or water. She walked nearly half a kilometre before falling asleep. She did not cry in the night, which could have either helped to rescue her or put her life at more risk. Usually, wild animals, especially at night, roam freely in these areas, which could have harmed the little girl. We are happy that she was alive,” Bopanna added.