VIJAYAWADA: Six students, including two girls, from Andhra Pradesh will swim across the Palk Strait on Friday from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi in India. The swimming expedition will start from Talaimannar at 1 am on Friday. The swimmers taking part in the expedition include Kola Baby Spandana (18) of Kakinada, Kalavakollu Johnson (16), Piduru Sri Gowthama Pranav Rahul (18), Kalavakollu King George (16) and Terli Sathvik (15) of Vijayawada, and Bontha Alamkruthi (13) of Guntur.
The swimmers have been trained by Tulasi Chaitanya, a head constable working in Vijayawada, who is an adventurous swimmer from Andhra Pradesh. The swimmers who reached Rameswaram a week ago, began practising at Dhanushkodi deep sea. All the six swimmers have won medals in several national swimming competitions. According to expert swimmers, the Palk Strait is extremely tough for swimming at night as the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean meet at Dhanushkodi point.
Unexpected strong undercurrents and lashing waves make the swimming tough. “Swimmers have to overcome the resistance of strong waves. However, all the necessary training has been given to the young swimmers to face the challenge,” said Chaitanya.The Sri Lankan Navy and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) will provide technical support to the six swimmers. “The swimmers have got all necessary clearances from both India and Sri Lanka to swim across the Palk Strait,” he added.
Jiya Rai, a 13-year-old girl from Mumbai, became the youngest person to cross the Palk Strait in 13 hours and 10 minutes, breaking the record of Bula Choudhury (13 hours and 52 minutes), on March 20. The Palk Strait (Gulf of Mannar) is one of the toughest sea routes in the world. The distance from Talaimannar to Dhanushkodi is 29 km. It is an inlet of the Bay of Bengal between southeastern India and northern Sri Lanka. It is bounded on the south by Pamban Island (India), Adam’s (Rama’s) Bridge (a chain of shoals), the Gulf of Mannar, and Mannar Island (Sri Lanka).