Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Updated

Mangaluru, Jan 19: In a tragic incident, a girl drowned after a boat capsized in the river Netravati at Uliya Hoige, Ullal near here on Sunday January 19.

The deceased has been identified as Renita (18) of Miyapadavu. 

Renita was a final year commerce student of Milagres College. 

It is learnt that Renita along with five of her classmates had come to participate in the annual celebrations of Thokkottu church, and was staying at the residence of George, the father of one of her classmates, in Uliya Hoige.

Renita

Martin

After lunch on Sunday, Renita and her friends requested George to let them go on a boat ride in the Netravati river. Consenting to their requesting, George took the six girls, including his daughter, on the boat. However, when they were a few metres away from the river bank, a strong wind came their way and caused the boat to topple. All seven of them fell into the water.

Locals who were at the spot, two of them identified as Martin and David, rushed to their rescue. They managed to rescue three girls first, and then two more. However, three of them, including Renita was in critical condition by the time they were brought ashore.

Renita passed away on the way to hospital, while the other two girls have been hospitalised. The condition of one girl is said to be serious.

George who had also fallen into the river managed to swim back to safety.

Speaking to daijiworld, Martin, who managed to rescue four girls, said, "My house is closeby and when I saw from there, the boat had already capsized. I immediately went into the river to rescue them. We could rescue three girls, but three others had gotten washed away deeper and it was difficult to bring them ashore. But we could rescue two of them as they held on to us tightly, but one girl had gone even deeper than the rest and was in a critical condition when we finally brought her out. She died on the way to hospital."