Authorities have expressed surprise that a mentally challenged woman was able to survive for five days without food inside the thick forests of North Andaman, with one official describing her survival as “nothing short of a miracle” given the dangers of the terrain.
Budhni Munda, around 46, had gone missing from Nabagram village in North Andaman on the morning of March 10. She was found alive only on March 15, deep inside the forest under the jurisdiction of Kalighat Police Station, after a sustained multi-day search involving police personnel, villagers and family members.
“The area is dense and difficult, and the fact that she survived there for five days is definitely a miracle,” an official familiar with the rescue said. “There are venomous snakes in that vicinity. She was lucky not to have suffered a snakebite during her stay in the forest.”
Police department sources said what has struck rescuers most is not only the length of time she remained inside the jungle, but the fact that she appears to have survived without food in a terrain known for its thick vegetation and natural risks.
When officers tried to speak to her after the rescue, Budhni was reportedly in no condition to explain how she had endured the ordeal. Asked where she had been staying, what she had eaten and how she had spent the days in the forest, she was unable to answer coherently and could only make indistinct sounds, according to police sources.
Her husband, Segwa Toppo, told police that Budhni has been suffering from severe mental illness for nearly two decades and also experiences extreme memory loss. According to officials, she often fails to recognise people even after short intervals and has a history of wandering away from home and entering nearby forest areas.
In earlier instances, family members had managed to locate and bring her back. This time, however, repeated efforts by her husband failed, following which a missing report was registered on March 12 and a formal search operation was launched.
Teams then combed the dense forest belt around Nabagram over several days. The search, involving police personnel, local villagers and relatives, covered a large stretch of difficult terrain before Budhni was finally located alive, though in a weak and exhausted condition.
Police said preliminary findings suggest she did not consume any food during the period she was missing and survived only by drinking water from unknown sources inside the forest.
After being rescued, she was taken to the Primary Health Centre in Kalighat for treatment and observation. Once her condition stabilised, she was discharged and later reunited with her family.
Police said Budhni lives with her husband, who is her primary caregiver. Their son works in Sri Vijaya Puram, while their daughter is employed in Diglipur.
The incident has once again drawn attention to the vulnerability of persons with severe mental health conditions in remote settlements near forest areas, as well as the difficulty of carrying out search operations in the thickly forested stretches of North Andaman.
