Kerala: Youth drowns while trying to shoot video for TikTok

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 23-year-old youth drowned in a quarry pond at Kallayam under Mannanthala police station limits on Monday evening.
The deceased, Syamkumar of Mavuvila, was an aluminium fabrication worker. His friends, who were with him at the time of the incident, told police that he drowned while attempting to shoot a video to upload on ‘TikTok’ after stepping into the pond.
Mannanthala sub inspector O V Gopichandran said Syamkumar often used to visit the quarry which is not operational.
The incident took place around 5.30pm. His friends raised alarm and alerted residents, who informed the fire and rescue services personnel. Units from Thiruvananthapuram and Nedumangad stations, including scuba divers attached to the Thiruvananthapuram station, rushed to the spot. The body was fished out around 9.30pm.
The SI further said even though his friends claimed that he was trying to shoot a video, police did not entirely buy their claims initially.
On Tuesday, police checked the mobile phones of his friends and confirmed that they were in the habit of regularly shooting videos and uploading them on social media.
“ Among the four youths only one of them knew swimming and that person dozed off on the bank of the pond when Syamkumar stepped into the river. By the time the others woke him up, the deceased had drowned in the pond,” the SI said.
A postmortem would be done only after receiving result of Covid test.