Beltangady : In a tragic incident a native of Nittade village of the taluk died after he fell down into a 100-feet deep gorge while climbing mountain at the Smith Rock State Park under the limits of Terraban in Mount Hood Lower Gorge.

The deceased is Chaitanya Sathe (36), currently residing in the USA. The incident took place on Saturday, August 24.

Chaitanya, son of senior scientist Ramesh Sathe, had 11 research works in addition to writing 306 essays and 401 definitions pertaining to research work and had taken part in several mountain climbing operations. He was working as a researcher at Illinois University in Urbana-Champaign of USA and was living in Hillsboro since the past seven years.

Chaitanya is survived by his father, mother and a sister.