The man was pulled out of water. There were 5 men holding his limp body. Three of them were holding the mid-section and two balanced the legs as the head dangled precariously. As they reached the beach, he was laid down on the wet sand. Immediately a large crowd of people who were bathing then on the beach gathered around. Amidst murmurs of 'Oh, he's dead..', 'Is he still breathing..', 'Someone call the doctor..', two foreigners jumped on to act on the body. They had been strolling casually on the beach when they heard the screams for help.

A man in his forties with his three young children, and a man in his twenties had been pulled into deep waters by the sudden current in the water. For a few minutes nobody even realised what had happened, until a lady raised a scream for help. I was walking towards the changing room with fresh clothes when i heard a man running towards me asking to alert people. Radhanagar beach on Havelock Island is a rather quiet and lonely beach. Even though the water has gulped a few lives before, but there is no coast guard stationed there.

As the man ran down the road and alerted a few local youths, i made a run to the beach to check if it wasn't anyone from my own family. My father, my brother and me were also swimming pretty deep in the water. Somehow, my mother felt a little unsafe and asked us to come out. I was already having a headache and decided to finish early. Soon after i came out, the water became a little rough. A guy was swimming within a distance of 1 foot of my brother. Dad asked my brother to come out as well and though he resented, after repeated pleadings he did come out. No sooner had he stepped out of the water, this guy and 4 other people were pulled inside by the current. I ran towards the beach to find my family members safe.

Local youths and a policeman ran to save those who were drowning but no one dared to step into the rough waters. The ones who did came back real soon. All we could see from the shore were 5 pair of hands frantically moving in the water. Ultimately, an uncle and his two children were brought out. A man who was an expert swimmer brought them out and by the time he went in a third time, he was already out of breath. There were still two people, a child and a man in his twenties to be brought out. As he reached the two, both of them clinged on to him for life support. This caused the man to go down himself and in the spur of the moment, he removed the hand of one of them and swam ashore with the child. By the time he turned around, the guy inside could not be seen. Suddenly, we saw to our right that a German lady had plunged into the water at lightning fast speed and she swam and brought the man to a safe distance. From thereon, he had to be pulled through lasso by a rope. 8 men held on to the rope and fighting against the current he was carried outside by 5 of them.

cont..