Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Aug 24: Two young men who were engaged in agricultural work accidentally drowned in a rivulet near Gantubeelu in Albady village in the taluk on Monday August 23 evening.

The victims of the incident have been identified as Mohan Naik (21), son of the late Kalu Naik residing near Ardi Konchady in Albady village, and Suresh (19), son of Mahabala Naik. They were close relatives. Mohan Naik has left behind his mother, brother and a sister while Suresh Naik is survived by parents and a brother.

Both the deceased were from poor families and because of the impact of the lockdown, had no regular jobs. Therefore they worked as coolies. On Monday they visited the farm belonging to Gantubeelu Krishna Naik to work as coolies. For collecting greens as manure in the said farm, they had reached near the Kuntuhole rivulet flowing nearby. It is believed that accidentally they would have slipped and drowned. As they did not return for long, people went searching for them and found footwear near the rivulet. A search in the rivulet was launched and both the bodies were found.

No one knows whether both went into the rivulet together or whether the other died when trying to save the life of the person in danger.

Belve gram panchayat president, S Chandreshekhar Shetty Soorgoli and members visited the spot and extended help in the search operation. Shankaranarayana police sub-inspector, Sridhar Naik and others visited the families.

The deceased were children of brothers and their houses were located side by side. They were soft spoken and were of mild behaviour. Mohan Naik, who earlier worked in Mumbai, had recently returned home and began work as a coolie. On some occasions, he also operated an auto rickshaw on hire basis. Suresh Naik had recently got admission into a college for further education.