Hyderabad man swept away into lake while trying to help motorist during heavy rain

A man is seen struggling to find a foothold as he stands in neck-deep water with a heavy current. Even as others standing nearby try to help him, he loses his grip and the current carries him away into a lake, to the shock of onlookers. He is seen desperately trying to swim ashore but to no avail. 45-year-old Naveen Kumar has been missing since Sunday night when the incident took place at Hyderabad’s Saroornagar lake. The police said that Naveen was trying to help a two-wheeler cross a stream of water in Tapovan colony that had increased in intensity due to rains that lashed the city. He lost his balance and was swept away into the lake. He is feared to have drowned, the police said.

The dramatic footage which has surfaced online shows a large group of locals gathered on either side of the stream that feeds the lake even as Naveen loses his grip and starts getting pulled into the lake. The locals were unable to extend any assistance, due to the flow of the stream. Several onlookers could be seen trying to encourage Naveen to swim and reach ashore.

A man washed away in rain water at Tapovan colony into Saroornagar lake in Hyderabad on Sunday.@KrishnaRaoCHVM @shibasahu2012 @XpressHyderabad @Raj_TNIE pic.twitter.com/jlifyVUjmr

— R V K Rao (@RVKRao2) September 20, 2020

Naveen continues to be missing, police said, adding that three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed to trace him.

Speaking to TNM, Saroornagar Inspector K Seetharam said that Naveen helped push a two-wheeler that got stuck in the water but he slipped and lost his balance due to the high force of the water. Naveen is survived by his wife, Shalini, and two teenage children.

This is the second such incident reported in the city within the span of one week. On September 18, a 12-year-old girl died after falling into a drain at Neredmet in Hyderabad. Her body was found 1.5 kilometres away from the site of the accident in the RK Puram lake. Locals had blamed the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for not fencing open drains within the city.