OLD GOA
A boy Bashudev Bhandari (22), a businessman from Gujarat, was feared drowned while the girl was able to reach to safety after the rent a car in which they were travelling plunged into the Cumbarjua canal at Tolto ferry point, St Estevam in the wee hours of Sunday.
According to information gathered by the Old Goa police from the surviving girl, who is a student of a management institute in Sanquelim and native of Gujarat, she along with her friend Bhandari were proceeding towards Panaji when their car met with a minor accident at around 1.15 am. But they didn't stop.
Angered by their failure to stop, the sedan driver closely followed them
and both the cars apparently took the road heading towards St Estevam village.
After a hot chase, the duo in their rent-a-car reached the ferry point at St Estevam, which turned out to be a dead end as during that time no ferries are in operation.
However, to escape the chasing sedan driver, Bhandari apparently drove the rent-a-car straight into the river probably not aware of its depth.
The girl opened the door and reached the ferry ramp. From the girl's account, Bhandari too came out of the car, but he could not make it to the shore, with possibilities being expressed that the boy got caught in the strong undercurrent due to low tide.
Upon seeing the rent-a-car enter the river, the chasing sedan driver made good his escape.
The girl then walked towards the village side and knocked on one of the residences for help after which the police were notified and various authorities swung into action to trace the missing boy.
Old Goa police, marine police, fire brigade were the first to arrive at the site and conducted an extensive search of the area to trace the missing boy but without success.
In the morning, the Indian Navy divers arrived to trace the rent-a-car, which was apparently very close to the ferry ramp.
After several attempts to find the exact location of the car with the help of hooks, the divers got success and tied a rope around the car, while waiting for the crane to pull it out.
But, as there was a delay in the arrival of the crane the locals joined the firefighters and the police personnel and tried to manually pull the car out from the ramp side.
The car was then manually pulled to the surface of the water by the locals and the firefighters, and it was confirmed that there was no body inside.
Later, the car was pulled out of the river with the help of a crane and it was towed in a police tow van to Old Goa.
The Old Goa police and the coastal police continued their search for the missing boy but at the time of going to the press, there was no headway.
The Old Goa Police have registered a case of other accident in the incident, and a case of missing of Basudev Bhandari upon report of his friend.
As the incident of accident between the rent a car and sedan occurred at Marcel, the Mardol police are conducting an inquiry and the subsequent chase.
Sources also informed that the police are also looking for CCTV camera footage, all along the route to get confirmation of the apparent chase.
