Navy Captain dies in paramotoring mishap in Karnataka, his fatal fall caught on camera

Visuals of the accident show Captain Madhusudhan Reddy plunging into the Arabian sea after his paramotor allegedly developed a snag.
Fishermen rescuing the navy captain
Fishermen rescuing the navy captain
Written by:

An Indian Navy Captain died in a paramotoring accident on Friday in Karnataka’s Karwar, while the officer was on an outing with his family members. The Karwar Town police said that Captain Madhusudhan Reddy (55), was rescued from the Arabian Sea and died about 30 minutes later, as he was being taken to the hospital. Paramotoring is an adventure sport where a chute is attached to a seat powered by a motor. The rider is harnessed to the seat and the motor located at the back of the seat thrusts upwards. This lifts the rider into the air.

Madhusudhan Reddy, a 55-year-old Captain based in Karwar, had gone to the Rabindranath Tagore beach with his family members on Friday. His family, originally from Andhra Pradesh, is based in Bengaluru and were visiting him. Adventure sports had been banned at Rabindranath Tagore Beach due to the COVID-19 pandemic but were reopened on Friday itself. 

Madhusudhan Reddy, and his family headed to the beach on Friday evening along with Madhusudhan’s friend Vidyadhar Vaidya, the parapilot, who also owned the paramotoring equipment. 

Madhusudhan’s family members all took turns to paramotor and finally it was his turn. When he was about 100 meters above sea level, the motor allegedly developed a snag and Madhusudhan fell into the water. 

Karwar Town Police said that Madhusudhan got tangled up in the rope and the weight of the paramotor pulled him into the sea. Vidyadhar Vaidya, who also fell, was rescued by fishermen immediately. However, they took longer to find Madhusudhan. Finally, at around 5.30 pm, Madhusudhan was fished out of the sea. 

Police said that Madhusudhan was alive when he was brought to the beach shore. However, the ambulance, which the police had called for did not arrive on time. The police said that the ambulance was delayed due to which he was taken to the Karwar DIstrict Hospital in a police jeep. 

“We waited for about 20 minutes and then took him to the hospital. We had to wait as it was protocol and if anything were to have gone wrong, it could have been life threatening as we are not paramedics. We waited for a few minutes and when the ambulance didn’t come, we had to make the decision to put him in the police jeep and take him,” the police officer said. 

Police said that Madhusudhan Reddy died on the way to the hospital, which is half a kilometer away from the beach. He was declared brought dead. 

Police said that according to the doctors at the district hospital, Captain Madhusudhan died due to cold water shock. “The doctors told us that since he was suddenly plunged into water where the temperature was less than 15 degrees C and the outside temperature was much higher, he went into shock,” the officer said. 

 

Related Stories

No stories found.
The News Minute
www.thenewsminute.com