Rupesh Samant

Panaji, Dec 5: With people thronging to the beaches of Goa during the festive season, the coast witnessed 81 rescues in 60 separate incidents over the last two weeks by Drishti’s lifesavers. The rescues included several double and triple rescues. Unfortunately, one victim succumbed despite efforts to revive him.

The lifesavers witnessed an increase in incidents of water sports enthusiasts who indulged in open sea kayaking who often have to be recused after their kayak topples over due to the choppy sea conditions. In 8 separate incidents that took place in Palolem, 12 individuals were rescued by Drishti’s lifesavers.

From January 1 to date, lifesavers rescued 35 persons in water-related incidents and 4 medical interventions. Of these, 35 were domestic tourists while 4 were local inhabitants.

The Calangute – Sinquerim coastline, Ashvew, Keri in north Goa and Palolem in south Goa witnessed the most number of rescues in the festive period extending from December 20 till date.

On December 31, January 1 and January 3, Drishti’s lifeguards have had to conduct search and rescues of children aged between 1 and 5 years who went missing on the beach. The children were located and reunited with the parents in all three cases.

Incident details of rescues on January 4.

Goa on January 5 witnessed a triple rescue at Calangute, double rescues at Candolim and Vagator and a single rescue at Cavelossim beach.

A group of 17 were swimming at Calangute, where a trio aged 16, 17 and 20 years drifted into the sea and were swept away. The Drishti lifesavers Leslie Rodrigues, Siddesh Bhosle, Sangam Asolkar and Vinod Gaonkar alerted each other and carried out a rescue of the three individuals. The youngsters were brought back safely to shore and vitals were checked which were found to be stable.

Meanwhile, two children below 12 years of age were rescued at Vagator from the rocky shore while two males from Madhya Pradesh aged 38 and 42 years were rescued by Tulsidas Palyekar, Sunil Matonkar and Leslie Rodrigues.