24-Year-Old Panvel Resident Drowns at Pandavkada Waterfall in Kharghar
A 24-year-old man drowned while swimming in the pool beneath the Pandavkada waterfall in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, marking the third such fatality at the site during this monsoon season.
The deceased was identified as Aditya Ramjit Vishwakarma, a resident of Navnath Nagar in the Forest Colony area of Panvel and a native of Uttar Pradesh.
According to police officials, Aditya visited the waterfall for leisure around 1:30 pm alongside his 22-year-old brother, Ayush Ramjit Vishwakarma, and two friends. After arriving at the site, Aditya entered the pool beneath the waterfall to swim, where he subsequently drowned.
The Kharghar fire brigade received an emergency alert regarding the incident at approximately 2:15 pm. A fire jeep and a rescue team were dispatched to the location immediately. However, search operations were hindered by heavy rainfall and a strong volume of water cascading down the waterfall.
Firefighters initially attempted to locate the victim by searching the waters using ropes. When that yielded no result, the personnel entered the pool to conduct a search. They eventually located Aditya's body trapped inside a crevice between rocks at a depth of roughly 10 to 12 feet.
"Our team faced difficult conditions as heavy rain and the strong flow of water from the waterfall made the search challenging. After a thorough search, the man was found trapped between rocks at a depth of around 10 to 12 feet. We safely pulled him out, placed him on a stretcher and brought him down from the hill," said Prashant Darekar, fire officer at the Kharghar fire station.
The rescue operation was carried out by a team from the CIDCO Kharghar fire station comprising Darekar alongside firemen Suraj Patil, Pritam Patil, Chetan Pawar, and Kaustubh Vaydande.
Aditya was transferred to an ambulance waiting at the scene and transported to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Personnel from the Kharghar police station reached the spot, took custody of the matter, and registered an accidental death report. Further investigation into the incident is underway.
