September 9, 2024, 7:30 AM
The trainers had been swimming against the current to save four trainees when their boat capsized, but they became exhausted and drowned.
Two junior commando trainees from the Special Forces Training Centre of the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre (MLIRC) in Belagavi drowned while trying to rescue four other trainees after their boat capsized due to strong currents in the backwaters of Tillari Dam in Maharashtra, officials familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Mahendra Pandit said, “On Saturday, a team of several trainees from the Special Forces Training Centre, Belagavi, entered the dam construction site, 65 km from Belagavi district, to train young recruits in water-related tasks.”
He said the command centre has received formal permission from authorities to enter the dam site.
He said: “The accident occurred when one of the boats carrying six people capsized about 50 metres from the starting point. The two trainers on board tried to rescue the four trainees.”
“After a struggle of more than two hours, the commandos managed to rescue the trainee, but he no longer had the strength to swim through the strong current and drowned,” he said.
The police chief further said the body was retrieved by local expert swimmers who were called by the dam authorities late on Saturday night.
The deceased have been identified as Vijay Kumar Dinwal (28) from Rajasthan and Dibakar Roy (26) from West Bengal.
“After post-mortem, the bodies of the deceased were handed over to the command centre authorities,” Pandit said.
Police officers said the trainees were in the area for routine training.
“Apart from regular training, some of the newly admitted trainees were sent for river crossing trials to the Tillari dam site to check their capabilities,” he said, adding that the dam’s backwater site is a tough mission for adventurers and several lives are lost every year.
According to the Special Forces Centre, Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Roshan confirmed that a team of Special Forces had gone to Tillari Dam on a river crossing mission on Saturday when the boat capsized.
Stay updated…
Show more
