Telangana medicos die in Ukraine trying to rescue friends from drowning

Hyderabad: Two final-year medical students lost their lives in Ukraine on Tuesday while trying to rescue two of their friends from drowning in a river near their college campus. The deceased were identified as Shivakanth Reddy (22) from Kuntloor in Hyderabad, and Ashok Kumar Maruguthi, alias Ashu (21), from Kadapa. The two were final-year students at the Zaporozhye State Medical University in Ukraine. Shivakanth and Ashok, along with their friends Eshwar Mukesh (21) from Visakhapatnam, and Akhilesh (20) from Rajah-mundry, were playing beach volleyball by the river Dnieper, which runs close to their campus, on Tuesday evening. The ball fell into the river and Eshwar and Akhilesh went to retrieve it, but they began finding it difficult to swim.

Dr Raju of Neo Consultancy in Himayat Nagar said that Ashok had drowned while trying to save Eshwar, and Shivakanth had drowned after rescuing Akhilesh. “The two were under water for five to ten minutes until the emergency unit arrived and fished them out. CPR was administered immediately and several unsuccessful atte-mpts were made to revive them. They were then rushed to a government hospital where doctors tried, once again, to resuscitate them, but they were unsuccessful. Shivakanth was the first to be declared dead. The doctors hoped that they would be able to save Ashok, but it was too late,” he said.

Relatives of Shivakanth Reddy said that the consultancy had taken the initiative to process the post-mortem examination and coordinate with the Indian embassy in Ukraine. “Once the legal formalities are completed, we will receive the bodies, which will most probably be by Saturday,” they said which is coordinating with ambassador Manoj Kumar Bharathi and other members of the Indian community in Ukraine to complete the legal formalities for the bodies to be brought to the country.

“We do not have any confirmation regarding the arrival of the bodies. We are expecting them to arrive either tomorrow or the day after,” said a police official from Hayathnagar. Relatives of Shivakanth Reddy said that the consultancy had taken the initiative to process the post-mortem examination and coordinate with the Indian embassy in Ukraine. “Once the legal formalities are completed, we will receive the bodies, which will most probably be by Saturday,” they said.

Kin in shock, funds pooled to get bodies:

Deceased medical student Shivankanth Reddy’s father P. Jangareddy has not been informed of the tragic incident because he suffers from a heart condition. According to a relative, the family plans to inform him on Thursday morning. Speaking about the deceased students, Dinesh Reddy, a friend of the family, said, “They were in the city just a fortnight ago. They went back after a month-long vacation. Shivankanth’s heart is in a very fragile condition and we are not sure how he will receive the news. We have told him that Shivakanth is undergoing treatment at a hospital.”

Shivakanth Reddy was a C certificate holding National Cadet Corp (NCC) candidate.  The students would have completed their course within the next six months. “On Tuesday, we were told that Shivakanth was no more and that his friend Ashok had also died while undergoing treatment,” said a cousin of Shivakanth’s. He said that the boy’s father had only been told that his son had met with an accident and that he was in a critical condition.

Neo Consultancy in Himayat Nagar had helped the students gain admission to the university in Ukraine. Ashok Kumar’s sister, Divya Teja, who is also a student at the same university, was at the hospital praying for her brother’s life when he breathed his last. The family, having a middle class background, will face financial trouble while retrieving the bodies from Ukraine. The Indian students community in Ukraine- Zaisha, held a meeting and came to a conclusion that they will be providing 50 per cent of the total amount required to send the bodies. The price estimate for the total formalities and clearance would amount upto 7000-8000 Ukrainian Hryvnia.