Chennai, April 23 (IANS): A 78-year-old senior citizen died of heart attack while he was participating in a relay swimming event from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu's Dhanushkodi.

Gopal Rao (78), hailing from Bengaluru, was third in the row of a group of 31 swimmers who held a relay swimming event from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram.

The swimmers including Rao had left for Talaimannar in a boat from Rameswaram on April 22, and they commenced swimming on April 23, in the early morning hours.

During swimming, he complained of uneasiness and was helped into a boat that was accompanying the swimmers. The medical team that attended to him on the boat declared him dead.

All the other swimmers cancelled the relay event and reached Dhanushkodi islet by boat.

The body has been sent for postmortem to Rameswaram Government Hospital and Rameswaram Town police have registered a case.

As per the Police, the group of swimmers had obtained all necessary clearances from both the Indian and Sri Lankan governments for the event.