SANGUEM/CANACONA
In yet more tragic incidents, two young girls drowned in a canal at Padamol-Sirvoi in Quepem and in a swimming pool in Agonda.
This is the third such incident in 24 hours and the fourth in nine days, prompting safety concerns near water bodies in the State.
In the first incident, a trip to attend a family wedding celebration ended in tragedy when an 8-year drowned in the Selaulim Canal at Padamol, Sirvoi in Quepem on Sunday evening.
According to reports, the girl had accompanied her mother, brother, and sister to Sirvoi, Quepem, to attend a family wedding celebration. The wedding venue was situated close to the Selaulim canal.
At about 6.30 pm, Shahad informed her mother of her intention to go to the canal to wash her legs.
Approximately an hour later, the mother, who was reportedly occupied with the wedding festivities, began frantically searching for her daughter around the house as the family was preparing to leave the venue.
Having remembered the girl having said that she would be going to the canal, people rushed towards the canal, only to find her lifeless body a short distance from the wedding venue.
Quepem police was notified and a police team conducted the panchanama at the scene. The body was subsequently sent to the district hospital for a post-mortem examination at the District Hospital in Margao.
This is the fifth drowning incident in the Selaulim canal in the last two years.
On March 30, Prakash Gaonkar (57) drowned after falling into the canal in Cotarli-Sanguem.
In February, two toddlers, Rehan Shrittey (13 months) and Wahid Hashmi (16 months), drowned in the same canal while playing near their rented home in Carremoddi-Curchorem.
Earlier in February 2023, Suresh Jadhav (13) drowned in the canal while bathing with a sibling.
In the second incident, a 3-year-old girl from South Delhi drowned in a swimming pool at a resort at Agonda on Monday.
According to Canacona police, the couple and their 3-year-old daughter had gone for lunch at a resort in Agonda.
Sometime during the lunch, the child without the knowledge of her parents went towards the swimming pool, and accidentally fell into the pool.
The parents later rushed the girl to the Community Health Centre (CHC), Canacona, where a doctor on duty declared her dead on arrival.
Canacona police later conducted a panchanama and sent the body for an autopsy at the South Goa District Hospital, Margao, before being handed over to the family for final rites.
On Sunday evening, 6-year-old tourist girl from Noida, Uttar Pradesh, drowned in the sea at Baga late Sunday evening.
Earlier on April 26, a five-year-old girl lost her life after drowning in the swimming pool at a hotel in Arpora.
