Two including a medical student feared drowned at Srinivasa Sagar in Chikkaballapur

Chikkaballapur: In a tragic incident, a medical student and another youth who went to rescue him are feared drowned at the Srinivasa Sagar reservoir in Chikkaballapur Taluk on Saturday, September 10.

The deceased have been identified as Sachchidananda (20), a first-year MBBS student from Mysuru, and Naresh Babu of Ramachandrapura village in Gauribidanur taluk.

Sachchidananda, along with his friends, had gone for a swim in the Srinivasa Sagar reservoir on a weekend excursion. It is said that Sacchidananda did not know how to wim and started drowning. Hearing the pleas for help Naresh Babu rushed to the rescue, however, he too was trapped by the swift currents.

Personnel from the Chikkaballapur Rural Police Station visited the spot and launched a search operation for the youths.

Chikkaballapur district has been receiving rain for a week in a row and the waterbodies are almost full. Local residents have appealed to the district superintendents of police and deputy commissioners not to allow school and college-going students and tourists to visit the water bodies. The public has also demanded that precautionary measures be taken by erecting fencing around the lakes and reservoirs.

The bodies could not be traced till 7 pm after which the search operation has been halted for the night. It is learnt that an NDRF team will arrive tomorrow morning and the search operation will be carried out from 6:00 am onwards.