Kasaragod: A coconut plucker suffered a blackout and lost his balance atop a 70-foot tree on Tuesday, hanging upside down for two hours before firefighters rescued him in Kasaragod’s Kallar panchayat. But it was his fellow coconut plucker and friend who stood between life and death, keeping him alive until help arrived.

"He is my god," said P Babu, about his friend of 30 years, M Sasi.

Babu and Sasi -- both 55 years old -- are from Perinkaya village in Cherupanathady ward near Malakkallu. They have spent over three decades climbing coconut trees together. Till recently, they travelled in Sasi’s auto to work sites; now, after the auto was sold, they ride on his scooter.

On September 30, the two arrived at Sebi's coconut orchard in Kappalli, Malakkallu ward, to pluck coconuts from approximately 30 trees. "It was a two-hour job," said Babu. They had climbed around 25 trees when Babu paused for water at a neighbour’s house. On the second tree after his break, disaster struck.

Babu, who has a history of brief blackouts, suddenly had another attack just as he leaned forward to clean the crown of the tree. "These blackouts last only for a few seconds," he said. In the past 10 years, this has happened four times, but always on the ground, and he ignored it. Last April, his daughter, who is a nurse, dragged him to a private hospital. The doctor advised him to see a neurologist.

But this time, his blackout came 70 feet up a coconut tree. Babu was using a climbing device—a metal strap that gripped the tree with a foothold. His feet were strapped in, and when he fell forward, he remained dangling upside down, his body swinging from the foot straps. "I immediately regained consciousness. But I was hanging there, upside down," he said.

From 40 feet away on top of another tree, Sasi heard a sound. "I thought Babu might have spotted a monitor lizard on the tree," said Sasi. When he got down and looked up, the sight froze him: his friend was hanging head-down. "I raised an alarm and called for help," he said.

One man tried to climb up but lost his nerve and backed away, said Babu. Sasi then scrambled up the tree himself using his climbing tool. With two towels -- his and Babu’s -- Sasi tied Babu's legs to the trunk to keep him steady. Then he got down and returned with a thick rope to secure his waist to the tree.

The pain was now shooting down from Babu's feet, and he pleaded for relief. Sasi freed the strap that had kept him hanging and then stayed up the tree, holding his friend's head up with his hands.

"He kept asking me if I was okay. I was hanging upside down — what should I tell him!" Babu said. "But he saved my life. He is my god."

Sasi said he kept talking only to prevent Babu from passing out. "If he lost consciousness, I feared the rope around his waist could loosen and he would fall," he said.

But help was slow. The Kuttikol Fire and Rescue Station, 20 km away, struggled to reach the hilly terrain. The first vehicle, heavy with a full tank of water, could not climb the slope, said Sasi. More than two hours passed before the team reached the orchard in a second vehicle.

By then, dozens of villagers had gathered. The firefighters spread a rescue net under the tree. A ladder was placed against the trunk. Fire officer D Neethumon climbed up, while his colleagues set up another net using a pulley system to lower Babu safely. Sasi, still perched on his climbing tool above the tree, carefully untied the rope around his friend’s waist and, with Neethumon’s help, gently guided him into the net.

Sasi watched as Babu finally reached the ground safely, after being suspended upside down for nearly 150 minutes. The operation was led by Station Officer V Sanju Kumar.

According to doctors, hanging upside down for such a long time is extremely dangerous. Blood rushes to the head, increasing pressure in the skull and eyes. The heart struggles to pump blood against gravity, and breathing becomes more difficult as organs press against the lungs. Without a timely rescue, the brain can swell, leading to unconsciousness or even death.

After the rescue, Babu was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, where doctors found his blood pressure elevated. "My daughter always tells me my pressure is high, so it was okay," he said, smiling at his luck. He returned home shortly after. "They asked me to come for a check-up tomorrow. I will go," he added.