HYDERABAD: All dreams of a 22-year-old Pinninti Shivakanth Reddy to become a surgeon were shuttered after he drowned along with his friend Ashok in Dnieper, the longest river in Ukraine.
The two students had gone to Ukraine four years ago after gaining admission to the MBBS course. Shivakanth Reddy was to graduate as a doctor in two months and had planned to go to Germany for higher studies.
Shivakanth Reddy’s uncle P Damodar Reddy said, “Shivakanth was supposed to finish his final year course in the next two months. He was planning to return to Hyderabad by December so as to go to Germany for his higher studies.”Shivakanth Reddy did not know swimming. Despite this, in an attempt to rescue his drowning friend Mukesh, Shivakanth and his another friend Ashok, jumped into the river and managed to rescue Mukesh. But within moments, both Shivakanth and Ashok drowned on Tuesday.
Recalling his relationship with Shivakanth, his cousin P Lakshmikanth Reddy said that Shivakanth used to maintain good relations with all the students and youngsters in the Siva Shanker Colony, near Hayathnagar, from where he belonged. “Shivakanth came to Hyderabad in August. He celebrated Ganesh festival along with family and friends,’’Family members of Shivakanth, Divya Sunitha Raj Burra said that Vice Rector for Indian Students at Zaporozhye State Medical University, Ukraine, had helped Shivakanth in getting admission in the university for pursuing MBBS.
‘’Sunitha Raj in Ukraine is taking measures in coordination with the Indian embassy and local police to send the bodies of Shivakanth and Ashok to Hyderabad. We requested Indian embassy to ensure that bodies are sent without conducting any postmortem,’’ said Suresh, a family friend of Shivakanth Reddy.