Man, 45, drowns while fishing in Anuppur pond; SDERF recovers body

A 45-year-old man, Maiku Bhariya, drowned in a pond in Sakola village, under the Bhalumada police station area of Anuppur district, on Friday afternoon. He had gone to the pond to fish.

According to Maiku's brother, he left home in the morning and reached Sakola pond, about 2 km away. He drowned between about 12:30 pm and 1 pm. His brother informed the police.

SDERF in-charge Ram Naresh Bhavedi said Maiku had gone fishing with a rod. It is feared that after a fish got caught on the line, he entered the pond to retrieve it and became entangled in water chestnut plants. His body was found caught in these plants, about 7 to 8 metres from the bank.

As Maiku was drowning, a companion entered the pond to save him. The companion held Maiku's hand and tried to pull him out, but began to drown himself and had to return to the bank.

The pond is deep and has a water chestnut crop growing in it. For this reason, the police sought help from SDERF at the district headquarters in Anuppur. The State Command Centre, Bhopal, received the information at 1:50 pm.

A team of 3 SDERF personnel and 4 Home Guard personnel, led by platoon commander Ram Naresh Bhavedi, travelled about 85 km to reach the spot. The team began rescue work at 3:30 pm. Exactly 15 minutes later, at 3:45 pm, Maiku's body was taken out and handed over to the police.

Maiku is survived by his wife, two daughters and two sons. The police are preparing the inquest report and carrying out postmortem formalities.