Youth drowns while trying to rescue his friend

Venur: In a sad turn of events, a youth who ventured into the river to save his friend from drowning, ended up drowning. This tragedy occurred at Kashipatna in Belthangady taluk on Sunday afternoon.

The youth who died in this unfortunate incident has been identified as Manoj (24), son of Sudhakar Poojary from Badakodi village. He was working as an electrician in Moodbidri.

Incident synopsis

Manjunath, son of Shekar, a localite and Manoj were childhood friends. Manjunath was a mason. Since it was a holiday on Sunday, both of them had cropped grass from the farm and stacked it up at Manoj’s home. Later around 2pm in the afternoon, they went to the river near Bolpale in Kashipatna village, at a distance of a kilometer, for taking bath. Manjunath had entered the waters, even before Manoj and due to the current in the river; he lost control and started to drown.

Immediately, Manoj dived into the river in an attempt to save his friend, but was carried away by the current. However, Manjunath survived by hanging on to a plant. It is being said that, even though Manoj knew swimming, it was of no use in front of the water current.

After a continuous search for more than 90 minutes, the localities were able to fish out the mortal remains of Manoj. His mortal remains were transferred to Moodbidiri government hospital where it underwent postmortem. Venur police have registered a case in this regard.

Eldest among three children

Manoj is the eldest among the three children of the farmer Sudhakar Poojary. Another son is employed as a mechanic in Mangaluru and his daughter is pursuing a degree at Mahaveera College in Moodbidri.