Fire station staff and locals at the Kharewado fishing Jetty as part of efforts to recover the body.
VASCO
A man ended his life by jumping into the sea from the tail end of the Kharewado fishing Jetty on Thursday evening, after ignoring pleas by onlookers to stop him from taking the drastic step and refused aid while he was in the sea.
According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred at around 6.30 pm.
"There were many people in the jetty and some were angling on the jetty. The people saw a man walk towards the tail end of the jetty that goes towards the Mormugao Port berth 11,” said an eyewitness.
“While many were wondering why the man was walking to the isolated area, the man suddenly went to the extreme point to probably jump in the water. We immediately began shouting and calling him but he refused to hear and just jumped into the sea.”
“When he fell in the water, a worker at a fishing boat docked nearby threw a rope at him but he refused help and folded his hands. While he was struggling in the water, we called him but he refused to move towards safety and drowned in the sea," said an eyewitness.
The locals immediately alerted the fire brigade, the port authorities and the coastal police about the incident
"In barely a few minutes, he drowned and his body began floating in the sea. The port CISF launch reached the site but refused to touch the floating body. We requested the CISF launch to offer assistance in preventing the body from drifting further but they refused to co-operate,” said a local.
“The fire services personnel also requested the CISF launch to hold on to the body by using a rope but they did not agree to do anything. The body moved towards the launch and drifted into the deep sea right in front of them.”
“We then requested the Coastal police to use their launch to retrieve the body but their launch was on patrolling duty at Cortalim. By the time the coastal police launch arrived, it was already dark and the body had already drifted in the sea," said the local.
Locals were highly critical of the CISF’s approach to the incident and demanded action against those CISF personnel who offered no help.
Later in the evening, a coastal police launch arrived at the jetty and ventured in the sea along with fire brigade officials and retrieved the body on Thursday night.
However the identity of the person who had ended his life is not known.
