SANGUEM
An LIC officer from Mapusa and another person drowned at the Mainapi waterfall in the remote Netravali village of Sanguem taluka on Sunday afternoon.
While the body of Janardhan Sadekar (55) was retrieved, efforts were on to locate the body of the other person.
Sources informed that Sadekar along with his friends, which comprised 11 men and three women, had gone for a picnic at the Mainapi waterfalls.
When they went to the Mainapi waterfalls, which is deep inside the forest area, Sadekar noticed a person from another group struggling in the water.
Without a second thought, Sadekar jumped into the waterfall to save the man, who is from Vasco, but he and other person got caught in the deep waters.
An alarm was raised and the Sanguem police and fire services were notified.
The body of Sadekar was later retrieved by a team from the fire services with the assistance of locals and police, while the body of the other person, who has been feared drowned, is yet to be recovered.
Despite the dangers of entering the waterfalls during the monsoon season in Netravali village, a large number of tourists rush to the village to witness the waters flowing from a considerable height.
During weekends, hundreds of locals from different parts of Goa and elsewhere rush to the waterfalls at Netravali village, which has four waterfalls at Mainapi, Pali, Savari and Udengi.
The waterfalls at Mainapi and Savari are considered particularly dangerous as one has to descend through a path which becomes slippery during monsoons.
Over the years, a total of 12 deaths have been reported at the different waterfalls in the village. The last death at the Mainapi waterfall was reported 12 years back when a youth from Margao had lost his life when he went to bathe in the waters.
Considering the deaths and the dangers that prevail at the waterfalls in Netravali village, the villagers have appealed to the forest department to ban visitors from entering the waterfalls.
