Trekker Sawant falls off cliff, dies

Arun Sawant, 60, who played a key role in making trekking popular in the state, fell to his death while arranging a rock climbing session at Harishchandragad fort in Konkan Kada, Ahmednagar, on Saturday. His body was recovered on Sunday afternoon.

He discovered new trekking sites, which have now become popular in the state among enthusiasts, including Duke’s Nose, Sandhan Valley, Thitabi waterfall in Malshej ghat, among others.

Sawant was reported missing by his teammates and is suspected to have fallen from a height of over 550 feet, when he was setting up rappelling ropes for 30 rock-climbing enthusiasts.

A Goregaon resident, Sawant worked with the MTNL. He was the first person to have successfully trekked to Duke’s Nose in Lonavala. In 1986, when Sawant was trekking at Konkan Kada, his colleague Anant Barve fell down the cliff and died. In those days, there was no safety harness for trekkers. Sawant had requested the police to allow him to search for his friend’s body and bring it to base. Despite heavy rain Sawant managed to retrieve Barve's body. Incidentally, Sawant died at the same spot.

Umesh Zirpe, a senior mountaineer, member of Giripremi Mountaineering Club and president of Akhil Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh, said, “Sawant’s death is a huge loss to the mountaineering fraternity. He also ran an organisation named Cave Explorers. It is difficult to conduct climbing and rappelling activities at Konkan Kada since it has a steep slope is accident prone.’’

"It is sad that the son of Sahyadri breathed his last in the same range. His death is shocking and disturbing," said Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.