Quarry lake drowning: Fifth victim fished out

Bengaluru: The fifth and the last body of drowned engineering student Harish A.A. was fished out of the Bettahalasuru quarry lake around 7.30 am on Friday. A dozen Fire and Emergency Services personnel, with 15 members from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), started the search around 7.

NDRF members, who were equipped with scuba suits and underwater cameras, brought the body out in the next half-an-hour. “The body of the deceased had not decomposed or bloated, as we got it out as soon after we started the operation,” said Mr B.M. Thirumallesh, District Fire Officer, who was monitoring the search. The victim’s body was shifted to M.S. Ramaiah Hospital for the postmortem after a relative identified the body at the quarry, he said.

‘Harish was a star cricket player’

It was a sleepless night for the parents and relatives of Harish A.A., whose body could not be fished out on Thursday when he and his four friends drowned in Bettahalasuru quarry lake. “I have still not been able to come to terms with my nephew’s demise,” said Manikanta. “My heart sank when I saw my boy’s body being taken off the quarry by the search team,” he said, sobs wracking him.

Manikanta reached the lake even before the Fire & Emergency Services and the NDRF team started their search operation on Friday morning. A large number of Harish’s friends, both from the school and his college, thronged his house in Vasantha Block at Ganganagar in R.T. Nagar. Nagish, a soft-spoken 19-year-old, was shy by nature and mingled with everyone in the neighbourhood.

“We would make fun of him as he was so naïve,” said Udhay Kumar, his school friend. “He was a star cricket player right from his school days. An all-rounder, he captained the school team,” recollected Koushik Rao, one of his closest friends for over 13 years. “He had won several trophies at local cricket tournaments,” said Rakesh G. another friend.

Students cremated, family inconsolable

The bodies of all the five victims, including that of Harish, were cremated on Friday. The last rites of Arun Chandra Shetty and Nandakumar, and the Nepali students, Kham Patali M. and Rajesh Karamlab, were held at the Hebbal crematorium, while Harish’s body was cremated at the electric crematorium in RT Nagar, said Chikkajala police.

Family members, friends and college mates attended the funerals. Nandakumar’s mother Yasodha said, “He had his breakfast on Thursday morning and left telling me that me that he is going to the college. But he never returned.” The postmortem on Harish’s body was conducted at M.S. Ramaiah Hospital on Friday and handed over to his family members.
Later, the body was taken to his house in R.T. Nagar, where a large number of his family members and friends paid their last respects.

The parents of Kham Patali M. claimed his body from the B.R. Amedhkar Hospital morgue, while a brother of Rajesh Karamlab took his body from M.S. Ramaiah Hospital, the police said. “As our son drowned and his body could not be taken to our hometown, we conducted the last rites in Bengaluru,” said the inconsolable parents of Kham Patali.

Quarry lake may be fenced

A day after five engineering students drowned at the Bettahalasuru quarry lake, district administration officials visited the spot on Friday and took stock of the situation. Deputy Commissioner, Bengaluru Urban, V. Shankar, said that the department has proposed to fence the quarry which spreads across 3 km, to prevent any such tragedies.

It requires Rs 1.2 crore and a proposal has been sent to the Department of Commerce and Industries for approval, he said. “We have also asked the jurisdictional police to keep an eye on those visiting the quarry to prevent incidents like these,” he said.