Kerala: 2-year-old Mumbai girl drowns in Alappuzha

KOCHI: A two-year-old girl from Mumbai drowned in Pamba river at Kainakary in Kerala's Alappuzha on Tuesday evening.
The deceased has been identified as Anvitha Shetty, daughter of Sivaprasad Shetty.
Alappuzha DySP P V Baby said the incident took place at 5.30 pm at Mundackal bridge near Kainakary.
Sivaprasad Shetty (37) - an IT professional from Mumbai who lives at Pavallaram Swasthi Apartment on Icon Plaza Street in Kalyan West, Maharashtra - came to Pallathuruhty on Tuesday noon along with his wife Soumya Shetty (34), seven-year-old son Brahith and two-year-old Anvitha for houseboat cruising.
The houseboats cannot cruise in backwaters after 5pm as per the rules in Alappuzha. So their boat named 'Athen' anchored near the Mundackal bridge at 5pm.
"Anvitha was playing with her parents and brother on the front portion of the boat when she fell into the river from the hands of her father. Soon Sivaprasad jumped into the water for saving the child. But he could not save her as she went under the boat," said the DySP.
Local villager Sheejo M said that Sivaprasad didn't know swimming and he somehow held the tyre tied in the boat, so the local people could save him. "If he didn't hold on the tyre, he might have also gone under the boat. After saving Sivaprasad, the local people soon traced Anvitha from the under the boat at 5.15 pm," he said.
Though she was rushed to St Antony's Mission private hospital, which is 500 metre away from the accident spot, her life could not be saved. Around 5.45pm, her body was shifted to the morgue of Alappuzha Medical College Hospital. There is no road access to St Antony's hospital. So her body was taken from the hospital to panchayat boat jetty in a boat. From there, her body was taken to Alappuzha MCH. Sivaprasad, who suffered minor injuries, was given first aid at the St Antony's Hospital. Local villagers gathered there and consoled the parents of the child. Around 7.30pm, they were shifted to a private place in Kainakary by the owners of the houseboat.
"The postmortem will be held on Wednesday morning. The body will be handed over to her parents by Wednesday noon. If the parents want to conduct the funeral here, we will make arrangements. If they want to take the body to their place, we will also make the arrangements for that," said Nedumudi police station SI K Prassannan.