Swimmer meets watery grave as bet goes awry

Two persons drowned in separate incidents in Chikkajala and Yelahanka on Thursday.

Harish, 26, a lorry driver from Devanahalli, drowned in a quarry pit in Uttanahalli, on Thursday evening. He was an expert swimmer, and went to the pit to swim with his friends, said the police.

He challenged his friends that he would swim to the other end of the quarry pit—which is 100 meters long and 40 feet deep—in five minutes flat. He dived into the water and swam halfway when he started to drown. His friends, who noticed him drowning, alerted the fire and emergency personnel, said the Chikkajala police. But by then, Harish had drowned.

The fire and emergency service personnel tried fishing out the body. As darkness set in, rescue operations were called off. On Friday morning, the operation resumed and the body was fished out, said the police.

Novice drowns too
In another incident, Vikram, a vegetable vendor from Devanahalli, drowned in a farm well.
According to the police, he had been living with his sister Kavitha for the past nine months in Yelahanka Old Town. On Thursday afternoon, he went with his friends who wanted to swim in a well at a farm owned by Shankarappa, said the police.

Vikram, who did not know how to swim, stood near the well and watched his friends for a while. He then saw a thermocol piece lying nearby. He got into the well holding the thermocol, assuming that it would keep him afloat. But the thermocol broke into pieces and Vikram drowned, said the police.

His friends alerted the fire and emergency service and the police. They rushed to the spot and tried to drain the water. On Friday morning, they drained out the water completely and found Vikram’s body. The body was sent for post-mortem, said the Yelahanka police.