Mangaluru Resort Tragedy: 3 Engineering Students Drown in Swimming Pool; Owner, Manager Arrested

Mangaluru: A day after three women students drowned in the swimming pool of a resort in Karnataka, police arrested the owner and manager of the resort on Monday. The arrests were made on the basis of complaint lodged by the family members of the deceased. 

The arrested individuals include Manohar Puthran (resort owner) and Bharath (manager). The tragic incident, which took place at Vazco beach resort in Mangaluru, was captured on CCTV camera. 

Business, Tourism License of Resort Cancelled 

Further, the Ullal municipality has also cancelled the business and tourism license of the resort. An FIR under Section 106 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was lodged against the owner and manager of the resort, at Ullal police station.

How Mangaluru Resort Tragedy Unfolded?

The deceased, identified as Nishita MD (21), Parvathi S (20), and Keerthana N (21), were final year engineering students, hailing from Mysuru. According to sources, the trio was vacationing at Vazco beach resort in Mangaluru. It is learnt that the women decided to enter the pool despite not knowing how to swim. In the CCTV footage, it is visible that initially, the trio was standing near the shallow edge of the pool before one of them decided to move towards the deeper side.

As the woman suddenly started struggling to stay afloat, her friend tried to help her but to no avail. Looking at her both friends struggling to return, the third woman also went towards the deeper side of the pool but she also started struggling to survive. She appeared to try reaching two pool tubes floating near the other edge of the pool but failed. After a few minutes, the trio became motionless.

Later, their bodies were found floating in the pool by the resort staff who then alerted the police. PTI, citing police, reported that no lifeguard was present near the pool when the tragedy unfolded and neither was the depth of the pool mentioned anywhere. According to Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal, all three of them died of "accidental drowning".

Police also highlighted security lapses on the resort's part and said strict action will be taken. Further investigation is underway.