Mumbai: Family's New Year Bash in Goa Turns Tragic as Father, Son Drown
Mumbai, Jan 2 (Mid-Day): Tragedy struck a family from Mumbai when a man and his son drowned in Dudhsagar, Goa on Friday afternoon.
A family based in Santacruz had gone to Goa to celebrate Christmas and New Year when the incident occurred in which the father died trying to rescue his drowning son.
Salasar Fernandes (46) lived with his wife Asha and two children Clive (13) and Russel (7) at Yashwant Nagar in Santacruz (East). Salasar worked in a private company in Kuwait. As he spent most of his time abroad working, he decided he would spend some quality time with his family and decided to holiday in Goa. Thirteen other family members also accompanied him to Goa.
The Fernandes family left for Goa on December 21 and after much travelling and sightseeing, they reached Dudhsagar river. Wishing to enjoy a swim, Clive dived into the water and was later joined by his father. Recounting the horrible incident, Clive’s aunt Joaquina D’Souza, who was present, said, “Both of them knew how to swim. Suddenly, Clive started drowning and started yelling ‘Dada, help me’. Immediately, Salasar began to swim to help his son but soon he too was drowning.”
Within minutes, a rescue team was called and the others at the beach too tried to help but in vain. “After 20 minutes, Salasar’s body floated up and after sometime, so did Clive’s,” added D’Souza.
Clive and Salasar were rushed to a nearby hospital but both were declared dead on arrival.
Later, Collem police station was informed about the incident and a post-mortem was conducted.
The bodies of both of them were brought to Mumbai late on Sunday night and their funeral was carried out on Monday.
Joaquina said, “It is a very difficult time for Asha and she is in a state of shock. Now, there is no one to look after them.” A resident said, “Clive was a very helpful lad. As his father used to work abroad most of the time, he helped his mother all the time.”