Mangalore: Body of Vinay Vaz (24) found near Ullal bridge
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (NM)
Mangalore, Jul 21: Vinay Vaz (24), who went missing after accidentally falling into Netravati river on the night of July 19, was found dead near Ullal bridge at Kotekar here on Sunday July 21.
The body was recovered and shifted to Wenlock mortuary.
It is said that Vinay was among a group of 700 persons from Karwar diocese returning from a week-long youth retreat in Kerala. The group consisted of 25 priests, 10 nuns and youngsters.
Vinay, who was a parishioner of Infant Jesus Church, Sirsi, was the leader of his church team, and incharge of 48 youths. He had booked the tickets of all his team members and they had occupied berth numbers 8 to 12 of Netravati Express. The train was jampacked.
Speaking to daijiworld, Fr Wilson Fernandes, parish priest of Sirsi church said that on the night of July 19, at around 11.15, the train slowed down while passing through Ullal bridge. Vinay, who was new to this region, thought that the train had reached Mangalore and stepped out. He directly fell into the river below. The injury on his head indicated that he might have hit the protective barrier of the bridge first before falling into the river.
The assistant leader of the group who was nearby heard the sound of Vinay falling and called the others. The train's chain was pulled and railway authorities too arrived at the spot. The train stopped for about 40 minutes, and resumed its journey. Five persons of the teams including priests got down at Mangalore junction while the rest continued the journey to Kumta.
Fr Richard Lasrado, parish priest of Thokur church, who helped the group in dealing with the situation, spoke to daijiworld and said, "We are thankful to Sirsi Lokayukta DySP Umesh Shet who helping registering the case, as the police had first asked us to approach the railway police." The case was registered in Ullal police station and with railway police.
Son of Wilson Vaz, Vinay was the ICYM treasurer of Sirsi parish. "Vinay was a leader in the making. He had great dreams and wanted to become the event manager of Karwar. For this purpose, he had even bought a sound system all the way from Thailand," said Fr Wilson.