MANGALORE: It proved to be an eventful day for lifeguards of Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project at the Panambur beach, some 10 km from here, who on Saturday rescued six persons, including five students of a technical institute from Coimbatore.
Their act gave a new lease of life to Basavantha Kumar, 49, of Hanuman Nagar, Basavanalagatte village in Chikkodi taluk of Belgaum. Basavantha Kumar, working as a security personnel at Infosys campus at Mudipu, is the 81st tourist that the lifeguards of the project have saved at the beach since 2009.
Even as the excitement of rescuing this security guard could die down, the beach saw a group of 165, teachers and students of Akshaya College of Engineering and Technology from Coimbatore descend on the inviting waters of the beach later in the evening.
Yathish Baikampady, CEO of the Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project, said the group ostensibly on a study-tour-cum excursion which arrived in four buses headed for the waters. Some of the students ventured in to deeper waters and were swept away. The beach has a gentle slope compared to other beaches that have a steep descent, and this can sometimes mislead the visitors coming down here, he said.
But for the timely action of the lifeguards, who flung their life jackets towards the flailing students swept away by the rip currents, there could have been fatalities, Yatish said. Those rescued include Praveen Kumar, M Arun Prashanth, G Ravikumar, G Arun Prashanth and M Poovarasan. The students and the lecturers were allowed to go after they gave a written acknowledgement of the fact that they had been saved from drowning, he said.
