They brought drowning friends ashore, but themselves sank

Picnic to Hogenakkal goes awry for four City youth

 A joy trip to Hogenakkal Falls in Tamil Nadu went horribly wrong for a group of 14 youths, when four of them lost their lives after saving two of their friends who were drowning in River Cauvery on Wednesday.

Police said Nanda, 25, Vijay, 24, Raju, 26 and Nagesh, 25, all residents of Koramangala eighth block, reportedly drowned in the river. They rescued Jagadish and Appu and had brought them to the river bank.

However, minutes later, the foursome met a watery grave and it is not known how the tragedy occurred, they said.

Childhood friends

All the four were childhood friends and neighbours. Nanda’s parents had left him with his grandmother when he was a child and had returned to their native place in Tamil Nadu.

He discontinued education after Class VII and worked as a construction worker.
Vijay too discontinued schooling after SSLC and was employed at a printing unit and was staying with his parents and two brothers.

Raju completed PUC and was employed as an office boy. He was the lone bread winner for his family as his father had died a year ago.

He was staying with his mother and two sisters. Nagesh was also an office boy and had lost his father some years   ago. He was staying with his mother and an elder sister. All the four were bachelors.

“Nanda had sought my permission the previous night. But, I suggested to him to go after the election,” Nanda’s employer Satish told Deccan Herald.

“They wanted to go on two-wheelers, but I had opposed the idea. I realised that they had already gone when he did not come for work on Wednesday,” he said.

“We left for Hogenakkal on seven bikes early Wednesday morning. One of the bikes developed a problem and stopped a few kilometres before Hogenakkal. I and Appu went to the river for a swim.

Sometime later, I cried for help and the four rushed to our help. They jumped into the water and rescued me and Appu. I rushed towards the other friends who were repairing the bike,” Jagadish said.

Jagadish returned to the river bank with others. They spotted Appu lying on a rock in an unconscious state and the four were missing.

Locals’ help sought

“We realised that they had drowned and sought the help of a few local residents, who jumped into the river and retrieved the bodies. We took the four and Appu to a hospital at Pennanagaram where doctors declared the four of them dead and treated Appu,” Jagadish said.

The post-mortems were performed at Hogenakkal government hospital and the bodies were handed over to the relatives. Appu was shifted to a private hospital in Bangalore and he is recuperating.