Panaji: As thousands of beachgoers, including Goans and tourists, thronged to the state’s beaches to usher in the New Year 2025, the state’s packed beaches witnessed 21 incidents in the last week of 2024, by Drishti Marine, the state-appointed lifesaving agency.
The spokesman of the agency said that among the 21 rescue incidents, there were two triple rescues, five double rescues and 14 single rescues, bringing the total number of people rescued to 30.
Drishti Marine also reunited 18 missing persons, including 17 children, with their families after completing identification and handover formalities and administered first aid to 11 beachgoers over the New Year break.
At Palolem beach in South Goa, a triple rescue took place off Palolem beach, where three tourists from Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka aged 30, 35 and 37 were drowning.
Drishti Marine lifesavers Ramesh rushed to rescue them with a surfboard and jet ski, bringing them safely to shore.
“There were also two separate single rescue incidents at the same beach – a 32-year-old woman from Karwar got swept by strong waves and began drowning, and was rescued by a lifesaver with a rescue tube; a kayaker aged 36 from Karnataka fell out of the kayak and was rescued by a lifesaver with a jet ski,” he said.
At Mandrem in North Goa, a triple rescue, involving a 17-year-old male and 66-year-old female from Kyrgyzstan and a 13-year-old individual from Pune, took place off Mandrem beach.
The Lifesavers brought the three to shore safely with the help of jet skis and rescue boards after noticing them in distress.
“There were also two separate single rescue incidents at the same beach, with lifesavers utilising rescue boards and jet skis to aid the mission – a Russian woman, aged 26, was rescued by the lifesavers and a 37-year-old male tourist from Hyderabad was rescued by the lifesavers,” he said.
At Calangute Beach in North Goa, two double rescues took place off Calangute beach – two individuals aged 32 and 36 from Rajasthan, were rescued by the lifesavers.
In another incident on the same beach, two individuals from Bangalore aged 27 were rescued by a lifesaver with a rescue tube.
“A single rescue took place at the same beach, where lifesavers saved a 21-year-old Andhra Pradesh native with rescue tubes and surfboards,” he said.
The spokesman said that at Candolim, a double rescue took place where two tourists from Maharashtra natives aged 24, were rescued by a lifesaver with a rescue board.
“There were also four separate single rescue incidents reported from the same beach. An 84-year-old resident of England was rescued by lifesaver with a rescue board; a 30-year-old Karnataka resident was rescued by lifesavers with a rescue board and rescue tube; a 45-year-old Haryana native was rescued by lifesaver with a rescue tube; a 16-year-old Bangalore native was rescued by lifesaver with a rescue tube,” he said.
At Agonda beach in South Goa, a double rescue took place off Agonda beach. Two tourists from Bangalore, aged 26, began drowning and were promptly rescued by a lifesaver with a jet ski.
