Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP/MS)

Puttur, Jul 6: Two boys belonging to a family of labourers who were taking bath in river Netravati at Uppinangady drowned on Monday July 5 evening. The victims have been identified as Ningaraju (16) and Sathish (14), children of Dharma and Meenakshi couple from Subbanahalli village in Shirahatti taluk, Gadag district.

The parents of the ill-fated boys are employed in the plantation of Kedara House at Ilanthila. The children had come here on account of school holidays due to lockdown. Ningaraju was a tenth standard student of Morarji Desai residential school Gadag. He was preparing for the SSLC examination. His brother, Sathish, was an eighth standard student of a school at Gadag.

On Monday evening, when the parents were away visiting the town, the boys, who were not conversant with the depth or force of the river, ventured into the river for bath at a place where the river is very deep. A relative who saw them drowning, ran home and gave information. The locals immediately brought both of them out but by then they had lost their lives. Ilanthila's Vikhaya rescue team members, U T Fayaz, Basheer, Rasheed, Salam, Cheriyanaka along with local Ashrad Andethadka, rushed to the spot and brought both the bodies out of the river.

The couple had come here to work with dreams of educating both their children. The children were good at studies. They had invited the children to spend time with them during school holidays. The wailing of the parents rented the air at the spot and melted the hearts of the people present.