HYDERABAD: A youngster’s enthusiasm to post a video on TikTok has cost him his life. The youth, Narsimhulu, who did not know how to swim, was shooting a clip of himself in a lake to post on the video-sharing app. He, however, strayed into an area that was too deep and drowned.
The incident took place in Petbasheerabad, under the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate limits on July 10, but came to light only on July 11, a day after the police recovered the youngster’s body from the lake. Videos of Narsimhulu and his cousin Prashanth playing in the lake were shared on TikTok minutes before the tragedy. These clips went viral on social media.
Narsimhulu, a daily-wage labourer from Kohir in Sangareddy district, came to meet Prashanth, who lives in Dulapally, on Monday. After drinking alcohol at home on Tuesday, they went to the Dumar lake on the outskirts of Dulapally and started playing in the water.
Neither of them knew how to swim, and hence, Prashanth could not save his cousin. The police have launched an investigation.
After shooting a couple of videos in the lake and sharing them on TikTok, the youngsters waded deep inside to shoot more videos. In the process, Narsimhulu lost his balance and fell. Even before Prashanth could come to his rescue, Narsimhulu disappeared under the surface of the water.
Prashanth could not go searching for Narsimhulu as even he did not know how to swim. He rushed back to the village and informed his neighbours. The police were also alerted, and rushed to the lake, but could not start searching for the youngster as it was already dark.
Narsimhulu’s body was recovered from the lake on Wednesday morning and handed over to his family after a post-mortem, said sub-inspector D Mahesh, of Petbasheerabad. The police said the place where Narsimhulu drowned could have been around 10 ft deep.