Karnataka

Concern over frequent drowning accidents involving tourists

Karwar: The frequent number of deaths of tourists in the sea in Uttara Kannada district has raised concern among the authorities here. A majority of the people who drown in the rivers and sea in the district are tourists and students who visit the coastal area on educational tours.

Apart from this, software engineers fall victims to such water accidents. The death of four students from Bangalore on Sunday has again pointed to the issue of lack of safety arrangements for tourists in the district’s beaches.

Most of the deaths of tourists are reported from Gokarn and Murdeshwar where the sea is volatile. Many of the visitors, who do not have knowledge of the depth of the sea and who do not know how to swim, step into the water and get washed away.

Last year, some software engineers from Bangalore who tried to climb a rock in the sea at Gokarn were hit by a heavy wave and died. In the last three months about five major incidents of drowning of students in the sea have been reported from the district.

On September 21, two polytechnic students from Bangalore were drowned in the sea at Murdeshwar. Seven days later, four more students, who tried to swim in a tributary of the Aghanashini at Siddapur, died. The same day, a boy from Bhatkal died in the Venkatapur, a river, at Bhatkal.

Students from Bangalore who were on a tour of Gokarn died in two accidents that occurred on October 4. Two boys from Haveri drowned in the Kali at Karwar on October 20. Sunday’s drowning of four boys from Bangalore in Gokarn has again highlighted the poor security arrangements.

In many cases, passers-by have rescued those drowning in the sea or rivers in the district.

Though the police have displayed signboards on beaches warning the people not to step into the water, people from the upghat areas, who have no knowledge of the movement of the water in the sea, step into the sea for swimming and lose their lives. Though the water in sea seems to be stagnant, the undercurrent is swift. Strong waves inside the water pull swimmers into the depths.

People who live in the coastal area are aware of this and they take precautions while stepping into the sea. An expert swimmer from Karwar says that the undercurrent in the sea is so strong that it always pulls swimmers however expert swimmers they may be, into the depths. In most of the cases the sand bellow the feet gets washed away by the waves following which the swimmer is pulled into the water. Those who have knowledge of this keep on floating whenever the waves hit them.

There is no rescue team in the seashores of the district. Karwar Beach had guards for the last several years. However, they have been withdrawn now.

Contrary to this, Goa has guards in all its important beaches and they rush to help in case of an accident.

Such frequent accidents may adversely affect tourism, laments a manager of a tourism company. He says the Government should inform tourists about the dangers involved in swimming in the sea. And the district administration should provide rescue boats and set up first aid centres near beaches to meet such eventualities. If such steps are not taken, the tourism industry in the district may be hit.

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