Navi Mumbai: A trekker from Thane, Abhishek Kushwah (23), slipped and fell to his death at KP waterfall in Khopoli, on Sunday.Four friends, without informing their family members, had gone on a trek to make a reel, but the incident took place during their return, according to rescuers. They had started trekking towards the waterfall at around 5 pm. During their return, Kushwah slipped and fell down.The locals of the tribal hamlet Thakurwadi had alerted the volunteers of an NGO, Help Foundation-Khopoli, which, in turn, alerted the local police. Trekkers had fallen on the route this season. Three other trekkers – Sahil Harijan (17), Deva Gaidhankar (22) and Sahil Sawant (19) – were asked to wait at the Datta temple hall. The rescuers divided themselves in two groups, joined by the trekkers, to search for the body. The operation lasted for five hours.“At around the spot, our call for Abhishek was rebounded with echo only. The courageous rescuers decided to abandon the operation for a few hours but not to return empty-handed. We resumed our operation after resting for a few minutes. His body was tracked at around 2 pm on Monday and pulled out in a bucket stretcher. We were back to the locality by 5 pm,” said Gurunath Sathelkar, the main coordinator.Khopoli police inspector Sachin Hire said, “The body was handed over to his family members after conducting post-mortem. An accidental death report has been filed.” Kushwah was a freelance dog trainer.
