Mumbai: Man drowned in lake while swimming

After a few minutes, Koli`s body was floating on the lake. All friends rushed Koli to a local hospital where he was declared death before admission. Pic/Hanif Patel

A 40-year-old man drowned in a lake at Shirgaon at Virar East on Monday morning.

Police told mid-day that 5-6 friends had gone to the lake for swimming on Monday morning when the incident happened. The Virar police registered the Accidental Death Report (ADR) and started an investigation into this matter.

The deceased was identified as Vinod Bistur Koli, a resident of Arnala village. Deceased Koli was an Executive Chairman of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi party and a close relative of ex-mayor Rajiv Patil.

According to the police officials, the incident occurred on Monday morning at around 8.30 am when Koli was with his friend at the lake at Shirgaon. While swimming in the lake, Koli disappeared and drowned in the water.

After a few minutes, Koli's body was floating on the lake. All friends rushed Koli to a local hospital where he was declared death before admission.

Series of drowning incidents

Over the last few months, several incidents of drowning have been reported in the city.

On April 23, in a separate incident, a 12-year-old boy allegedly drowned in the Mahim area, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had said. The civic body, in a statement, said that the drowning incident was reported to the BMC following which the rescue teams including the Mumbai Fire Brigade were immediately rushed to the spot and a rescue operation was launched at the site.

In another such incident on March 7, a 30-year-old youth -- identified as Ravindra Chandrakant Pangare -- died as he drowned off Mumbai Juhu beach. Though the youth was rescued by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Lifeguard and was taken to Cooper Hospital in Mumbai, but the youth had already died. The doctors declared it a case of 'brought dead'.

Earlier in November 2022, two children died after drowning and three others were rescued by locals in Worli. An 8-year-old Kartik Choudhary and a 12-year-old Savita Pal, were declared brought dead on arrival by the doctors after they were shifted to a nearby hospital.

In similar incidents, other than Mumbai, in Andhra Pradesh in February 2023, six men drowned in a pond in Toderu village in Nellore district. The six were part of a 10-member group that entered the pond on Sunday, police said, adding four of them managed to escape to safety.