THIS IS THE SECOND CASE OF DROWNING OF A TOURIST AT THE CALANGUTE BEACH STRETCH, FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF A TOURIST DUE TO DROWNING AT CANDOLIM BEACH TWO DAYS AGO. CALANGUTE AND CANDOLIM COME UNDER A SINGLE STRETCH, AND HARDLY FEW KILOMETRE AWAY FROM EACH OTHER. THE CONCURRENT CASES OF DROWNING HAS AMOUNTED INTO RAISING CONCERNS OVER THE INTEGRITY OF A LIFE GUARD SERVICES DEPLOYED BY THE GOA TOURISM DEPARTMENT ON THE GOAN BEACHES…
The Tourism Minister Mr. Babu Ajzgaonkar had summoned the urgent meeting with the Drishti Lifesaving, the lifeguard service providers on Wednesday at the Paryatan Bhavan in Panaji. According to the sources, the Tourism Minister has taken the serious cognisance of the drowning of a 22-year-old IT professional from Nainital who drowned at Calangute beach on Sunday.
According to the police reports, the dead body of a 22-year-old youth was washed ashore on Monday at 3.40pm and police reached the spot had identified the deceased as Himanshu Kumar, 22, the resident of Nainital Uttarakhand.
As per the reports, deceased Himanshu was in Goa along with two of his friends on a short vacation, and they all decided to visit the world famous Calangute beach situated in North Goa. When they reached Calangute and decided to enter into the water. The police sources have said that one of them preferred to stay on the shore but Himanshu dared to venture into the deep sea water and in the fraction of time the underwater current pulled him in and he disappeared from the scene.
The other two friends informed the police about this incident. The police registered the case of missing, and started the search operation of Himanshu but, they could not become successful in the same, and today evening the body of Himanshu was washed ashore at around in the evening at 3.40pm. Police shifted the body to GMC morgue after conducting the Panchanama. The body has been presented for the purpose of post mortem, said the sources.
The Calangute police said that the deceased was an IT professional and was employed with an IT company in the website development related work. It may be recalled that another tourist Ashray Dutta, 27, from Himachal Pradesh was drowned at Candolim beach early morning on Sunday and the next day his body was found lying at Candolim beach.
Sources in Calangute police station informed that the deceased Ashray along with his friends was staying in a hotel near Candolim, and on early Sunday morning at 3.30 am, he and his three male friends entered the sea water while the women stayed on the beach. As they were swimming, a strong undercurrent pulled Dutta into the water.
His friends had raised an alarm and even tried to search for him but in vain, they informed the police about the incident, and the Calangute Police launched a search operation but could not manage to trace Dutta. Later on, the next day morning at around 8 am, Dutta’s body washed ashore.
The concurrent drownings of the tourists on the north Goa beach belt had raised the concerns over the existence of a life guards on the Goan beaches, and upset with the happenings the Tourism Minister of Goa Babu Azgaonkar had summoned the urgent meeting of a Drishti Lifesaving Services on Wednesday at Paryatan Bhavan (The Head office of Goa Tourism).
What is your opinion on this issue? Do you think that the Lifeguard Service is not functioning properly? What is your suggestion on the implementation of effective lifeguard services in Goa? Please share your views on this serious issue.
