In a tragic incident, a man from Hyderabad drowned in the USA in a paddleboarding accident on June 17. The man was identified as 31-year-old Sai Praveen Kumar, who worked as an architect in Austin, Texas, where the incident occured. According to reports, Sai Praveen hailed from Miyapur in Hyderabad.
According to a KXAN report, the Austin Police Department said that Sai Praveen’s body was retrieved on the night of June 17, after a witness reported that a paddle boarder fell into Quarry Lake and did not resurface earlier that day. The lake is situated in north-west Austin and is reportedly a small, private waterbody that not many have access to. Initially, the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services and Fire Department crews responded to the incident. A team of swimmers and an aerial search were also part of the operation. However, later, the case was handed over to law enforcement agencies, the Austin Police Department told KXAN. The operation began at around 5.40 pm and Sai Praveen’s body was retrieved after 10 pm. A Telangana Today report said that Praveen was purportedly not wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident.
Sai Praveen’s family, who reside in Miyapur, has reportedly been informed that formalities to repatriate his body to India are on. The family hails from Attaluru in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Sai Praveen is the son of Srinivas Rao and Ramadevi. Rao is a retired Assistant Director in the School Education department of Telangana.
In August 2020, another young man from Hyderabad drowned in a lake in St Louis, Missouri, The Hans reported. The victim was identified as 23-year-old Khaja Imran, who had gone to the lake with his friends on August 24, 2020. Khaja had reportedly swum too far from the shore, and drowned.