Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (MS)

Beltangady, Sep 17: In a tragic incident that occurred on the afternoon of Sunday, September 16 at Kashipatna, Venur near here, a youth who tried to save his friend who was drowning in the river lost his life as he was washed away by the current of water.

The unfortunate victims of this tragedy is Manoj (24), son of Sudhakar Poojary, a resident of Melinanooyi of Badakodi village. He was working as an electrician at Moodbidri.

Manoj and Manjunath, son of local resident Shekhar are childhood friends. Manjunath works as a mason. Both had cut grass on Sunday as it was a holiday and brought the same to Manoj's house. In the afternoon around 2 pm both went to have a bath in the river at Bolpale near Kashipatna village, which is around one km from the home of Manoj. Manjunath got down into the water first and lost control due to the current of water. Manoj, who saw his friend struggling to stay afloat dived into the water and swam towards Manjunath.

Manjunath, fortunately, got stuck in a bush in the river and was out of danger. However, before he could come out of the water, Manoj, unfortunately, had washed away in the river. Though Manoj was a good swimmer, it is learnt that it could not save him as the current of the water was very swift and it sucked him into the river. The locals who arrived after hearing the tragedy brought the dead body of Manoj after searching for more than one and a half hour.

Manoj was the eldest son of agriculturist Sudhakar Poojary, who is well known in local circle as he is a member of various organizations. The other son is working as mechanic in Mangaluru and daughter is studying in Mahavir College, Moodbidri.

Post-mortem of Manoj's body was done in Moodabidri government hospital and Venur police have registered a case in this regard.

One more death in the same spot last year

On November 1, 2017, Sachin, a student of Moodbidri polytechnic college drowned in the same spot, where Manoj lost his life. The locals are saying that some more people have died earlier in the same spot.