BENGALURU: A weekend outing turned tragic for two employees of an MNC after they were washed away in Mekedhatu waterfalls in the city outskirts on Sunday afternoon. The police said that they slipped into the falls after one of them tried to take a selfie of taking Cauvery water to wash his face. The fire and emergency personnel are searching for their bodies.
The locals said the undercurrent in the waters is so strong that it would be impossible to survive, especially considering that the water levels have risen by 60-70 feet as KRS dam’s 12 shutters have been opened to let out water from a nearly-full reservoir. The two have been identified as Bhavani Shankar (29) and his friend Samir Rehaman (28), natives of Bidar. They were working in a private company in Bilekahalli, and were living in rental accommodation on Bannerghatta Road.
A police officer said that the incident occurred around afternoon after the group of four friends had come to Sangama to visit the falls. Samir, while taking the selfie, slipped into the falls accidentally and Shankar jumped in to save him, and was also washed away. Two of their friends Amit and Srikanth who noticed the mishap alerted passers-by and then fire and emergency personnel were informed.
Preliminary investigations revealed that, as KRS dam’s 12 shutters were let open, the level of water had increased by 60 to 70 feet. It was a challenge for the fire department officers to fish out the bodies. The flow of the water was strong and the operation had to be called off. The bodies are yet to be traced and the search will begin only on Tuesday.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has also been roped in for a search operation and statements have been taken from the deceased’s friends Amit and Srikanth about the incident as part of the investigation, Saathanuru police added.
'SAMIR WANTED TO WASH HIS FACE'
Srikanth said, “We left the city at around 6 am on two bikes and reached Sangama at 10.30am. We spent more than an hour taking selfies. We were about to return and Samir got down to touch the water by saying that he wanted to wash his face with Cauvery water. He slipped and Shankar, who was nearby, rushed to rescue him.”