Naval officer rescues drowning bank manager from Maharashtra

KOCHI: The honeymoon trip of a 28-year-old Maharashtra-based bank

manager

would have turned into tragedy but for the timely and daring intervention of an

officer

with the Southern

Naval

Command, at the Vypeen beach on Friday evening.


Dileep Kumar, a

Bank

of Baroda assistant manager from Ahmednagar, and his wife Rajkumari, who were married eight months ago, were to spend their honeymoon in Kerala. As planned, Kumar reached Kochi on Friday morning and waited for his wife, a techie in Hyderabad, who was scheduled to reach here by a Saturday-evening flight.

The incident occurred when Kumar, who had checked into a hotel on MG Road, went for a bath in the sea at Vypeen beach around 3.30pm on Friday. Kumar was washed away by the waves and though a crowd had gathered, no one was able to help him as the tides were very high.

It was then the naval officer, later identified by the Navy as Lt Rahul Dalal, who was on a sight-seeing trip with his wife, arrived at the scene around 4.10pm.

“The officer noticed a person struggling in water, unable to swim and trying to shout for help. Dalal responded immediately and reached the victim within a few minutes. But it took Dalal, a navigating officer with INS Sutlej and a good swimmer, almost 20 to 25 minutes to bring him ashore as the undertow was strong,” said an officer with the Southern Naval Command.

When Kumar was brought ashore, he was not breathing. “When his mouth was opened, it was found that some weeds were choking his air passage. The passage was cleared from the victim’s mouth and he was administered cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by Lt Dalal, whereupon he was revived. In the meantime, the police were informed and the victim was taken to a nearby government hospital from where he was discharged by around 2am on Saturday,” said the officer.

Kumar, who dropped his plans and left for Hyderabad to join his wife on Saturday morning, later told TOI that he would never forget the incident. He also thanked the naval officer for saving him.

“My wife is pregnant and we have just started our life. Our much-awaited honeymoon trip could have become tragic if that officer was not there to rescue me. I could not meet him after the incident and I am waiting to thank him personally,” he said.