State reports 68 drownings in first five months of 2025

Panaji: A total of 68 persons have drowned — 37 in South Goa and 31 in North Goa — in the first five months of 2025. The deaths occurred in swimming pools, sea, and ponds, among other places.

In 2024, 106 persons died due to drowning, 48 in North Goa and 58 in South Goa. The drowning deaths are being reported across the state. Children and youth who try to swim in water bodies at isolated locations are often the victims of drowning deaths.

Cases of children drowning in swimming pools of hotels are also reported in the state.

The two district magistrates have already issued orders prohibiting swimming in waterfall pools, abandoned quarries, rivers, lakes, and other water bodies in the state. Govt has also issued orders for stone quarries to be fenced off to prevent locals and tourists from venturing in, but most of the quarries are still not barricaded.

On social media, influencers promote isolated ponds, stone quarries, and lakes, among other secluded water bodies, as they provide privacy and clean blue water for swimming.

“Drownings at such isolated places occur because people do not know the exact depth of the water,” police said.

A 35-year-old police constable attached to the Porvorim police station, Akash Naik, lost his life on Sunday after he jumped into a pond deep inside a jungle to swim, at Sirsaim in the Tivim constituency.

Police said that Naik, a resident of Porvorim, along with nine other friends, decided to visit a waterfall at Sirsaim. As it started raining heavily and the force of the waterfall increased, they all decided to return.

On their way, they saw a small pond and decided to swim. After Naik jumped into the pond, he did not resurface.

In April, a five-year-old girl, Sandhya Kumari, a resident of Bihar, allegedly drowned in the swimming pool of a five-star hotel at Arpora. The death occurred after the management and staff of the hotel allegedly left the swimming pool unattended without deploying a lifeguard, thereby causing her death.

Anjuna police have registered the first information report against the hotel management.

In May, a 27-year-old Santa Cruz resident lost his life while trying to save another man from drowning in a pond at St Inez. Saivaibhav Vaigankar, along with a friend, was visiting the pond.

A group of people were already swimming in the pond when, suddenly, one of them began to drown. Police said Vaigankar jumped into the pond to save him. However, Vaigankar drowned while attempting the rescue.