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IBTimes UK

A 24-year-old Indian software engineer has been saved by the rudimentary messaging app, WhatsApp. After being trapped for over 10 hours following a rock-climbing mishap, Gaurav Arora was rescued thanks to a picture of the accident site he sent out via WhatsApp.

Arora was trapped when he fell 300 feet from Asia's tallest single rock hill on Sunday afternoon, while rock climbing in Madhugiri, 60 km from Bangalore. He could not be traced for several hours as he was trapped in the underbrush, unable to move due to severe injuries.

At first, Arora tried calling his friend Priyank Sharma, who was with him during the climb but had taken a break on the way. The call wouldn't connect owing to the lack of network coverage. He then resorted to snapping a picture of the location of his fall and sending it over to the same friend.

Using the picture sent by Arora, the local police and fire department initiated a search and then managed to find his location.

According to IE, Madhugiri police inspector C Girish Nayak confirmed that the picture sent via WhatsApp helped his team find Arora, despite rescue operations being carried out after sunset. "We noticed that Madhugiri town was visible in the picture and based on that information, we managed to reach the spot where he had fallen," Nayak said.

Sharma, who waited for Arora till 5 pm, understood that his friend was in trouble when he received the picture. He then contacted the police for assistance.

Gaurav Arora is now safe and recovering at a hospital in Bangalore.