PANAJI
The fatal drowning of four young lives at Keri beach has once again caught the attention of how beach visitors continue to flout warnings issued for their own safety.
The allure of the perfect picture has proven to be stronger than the fear of death as many visitors, particularly tourists blatantly ignore the risks to venture into the waters at dangerous spots.
The Keri incident isn’t the first time that excited beach-goers have stepped into the ‘no selfie zones.’ The recent past cases indicate that excitement and momentary thrill have overtaken safety norms as 36 persons, majority of who are domestic tourists, lost their lives since 2019. The data includes six deaths reported these four months of the year.
While the victims took unnecessary risks for the sake of a selfie, others who went to rescue them also met the watery grave.
Drishti Marine stated that over 30 sign boards with the cautionary phrases ‘Strong Currents - No Swim Zone’, ‘Rocky Area’ and ‘No Selfies’ are placed across the coastal belt. The sign boards have been put up at several risk-prone sites along the coastline in North Goa as well as South Goa to deter visitors from endangering their lives on account of the treacherous conditions.
After a spate of incidents in 2018, the State-appointed lifeguard agency identified 24 'no selfie' points and also put up red flags on all the beaches marking them as 'no-swim' zones to prevent cases of drowning.
Despite this, the Drishti lifeguards face a difficult situation as they have to deal with not only the risk of drowning but also the anger and frustration of visitors who are stopped from taking selfies or allowed to swim in the prohibited zone.
In June 2018, two tourists from Tamil Nadu drowned in separate incidents while clicking selfies at Sinquerim and Baga beaches.
According to the police records, Dinesh Kumar Ranganathan, 28, from Vellore in Tamil Nadu drowned when he was clicking selfies along with two other tourists near a rocky stretch located next to a creek, which empties into the sea at Baga beach. Two of them managed to come out after a heavy wave pulled all of them into the sea. However, the third, Dinesh, drowned. The dead body was fished out later.
In the other incident, Sasikumar Vasan, 33, also a native of Tamil Nadu, drowned while he was enjoying a calm evening with his two friends, a man and woman, on the popular Sinquerim beach.
In the following year in May 2019, a 25-year-old doctor Dr Utukuru Ramya Krishna from Jaggayyapeta in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh lost her life after drowning at the Colomb beach.
Her body was sent to her hometown of Jaggayyapeta in Krishna district the following day, arriving on Thursday. The doctor and her friend were standing on a rock taking their photographs when a strong wave pulled them into the sea.
In the same year, three tourists, including a police constable and his brother, from Akola in Maharashtra drowned at Calangute beach.
With over 35 lifesaver towers, over 450 Drishti lifesavers are manning the beaches. A total of 200 drowning cases in 2007 prompted the then State government to take remedial measures after which Drishti was roped in. The agency claims to have rescued more than 6,000 lives since then.
