Youth dies during rescue bid in Cooum, pal survives

According to police, Vijay and his friend Mari were playing near the Cooum river on Monday night. Around 8 pm, Mari slipped and fell into the river. 

As Mari was struggling to reach the banks of the river, Vijay jumped in to rescue him. Mari, however, was able to wade through the sludge and reach safety. He soon realised that Vijay was still missing. He immediately alerted members of public who later passed on the information to the Chindadiripet police. 

The police informed the fire and rescue service personnel and a joint operation was launched to rescue Vijay. However, the police and fire service personnel could not locate the youth and called off the search operation at midnight due to poor visibility. 

They resumed the search operation on Tuesday morning and Vijay’s body was recovered from the sludge a few metres away from the spot where he landed. 

According to police sources, Vijay got stuck in the mud because of the force at which he landed into the river. “The victim was under the impression that his friend was drowning and jumped into the Cooum in a bid to rescue him. However, he was unable to pull himself out of the sludge and drowned to death, despite the fact that he knew how to swim,” a policeman attached to Chindadiripet police station said. The water level in the area was shallow and the river bed had collected a considerable amount of sludge.

The youth’s body was recovered and later sent to a hospital for post-mortem. The body was later handed over to the victim’s relatives to carry out the last rites.