the goan I network
PERNEM
Four students drowned while one boy escaped when the five of them had gone for a swim at a stone quarry in Tuem on Saturday evening.
Three bodies were recovered during search and recovery operations which went on till late Saturday night.
According to reports, the incident took place when the four deceased along with one other boy, all students of Don Bosco School in Tuem, and a teacher had gone for a trek in Tuem.
At about 4.30 pm, the boys went for a swim in a nearby stone quarry which was filled with rainwater.
All boys reportedly began to struggle in the water and while one boy managed to swim to safety, four others disappeared in the water.
An alarm was raised and teams from the Pernem police and Pernem fire services rushed to the spot.
Search operations were, however, delayed as the firefighters were ill-equipped to conduct the operations after dusk. Teams from the Navy and tourism department were
also apprised of the incident, but they did not reach the site till late night.
Firefighters along with a group of locals, the Dhruv Parse team, continued search operations till late night and managed to pull out the bodies of Jonas Dias (Cuncolim), Denish Shaik (Caranzalem), and Prince Zha (Jharkhand) after 9 pm, while the body of Frederick Fernandes (Mumbai) was yet to be located.
Mandrem MLA Dayanand Sopte and Tuem panchayat officials rushed to the site on hearing the news and were supervising the operations.
Speaking to reporters, ex-ZP member Deepak Kalangutkar said this was a tragic incident, adding it was pure negligence of the teacher concerned.
“Such tragic incidents should not be allowed to repeat,” he said.
Former panch Uday Mandrekar blamed the government and landowners for not filling stone quarries in the area before the monsoons, to prevent them from turning them into water bodies, and demanded action against the landowners for their negligence.
An official of the school, however, declined to respond to media queries regarding the purpose of the trek involving five students and one teacher.
Incidentally, there are a number of stone quarries in the vicinity of the school and this is the second such drowning incident in Tuem and fourth in Pernem taluka.
In 2008, a student from a school in Korgao had drowned in Mandrem-Parcem, while a few months later, a football player from Parcem had also lost his life.
At the time, then chief minister Digambar Kamat had directed officials to either fence or fill the unused and abandoned stone quarries in the State. HOW IT HAPPENED
Five boys, all students of Don Bosco School in Tuem, and a teacher go for a trek
At about 4.30 pm, boys go for a swim in a nearby stone quarry filled with rainwater
All boys begin to struggle in the water; one manages to swim to safety
Alarm raised, teams from Pernem police and Pernem fire services rush
Firefighters launch search Ops, manage to pull out 3 bodies; one yet to be located
