19-year-old Youth drowned Pooyamkutty river in Kerala

KOCHI: A  19-year-old youth on Monday lost his life after he went down in the Pooyamkutty river in Kuttampuzha near Kothamangalam.  The deceased is S Adarsh, a student of the Shree Venkateshwara Polytechnic College, Erode and a native of Charumoodu near Kayamkulam in Alappuzha district.
Adarsh had been caught in underwater currents while attempting to swim across the river. His friend Umesh, a resident of Kottappadi in Kothamangalam, had a miraculous escape.

“A nine-member group, all students of the polytechnic, was visiting the house of one of their batchmates, Mahendrajith, at Kuttampuzha. They went out to the river ghat to have some fun and soon four of them began to swim across the river. That part of the river had strong undercurrents and rocks underneath,” police said.

After the first two students managed to reach the other bank, Adarsh and Umesh attempted to swim across the river despite their friends warning them of the danger. Adarsh was caught in undercurrents on reaching the halfway stage and Umesh vainly tried to rescue him.
“Their friends began to shout for help and a local resident Raju rushed to the scene in his country boat. He managed to rescue Umesh but the other boy had drowned by then.  Adarsh’s body was fished out by 5.30 pm,” officers said.