Team Herald
PANJIM: The team of Fire and Emergency Services (FES) and Goa Coastal Police has not been able to trace Bashudev Bhandari, a Gujarat native, who went missing after the car he was driving slipped into the river from the ferry wharf at St Estevam on the Marcela side seven days back on early Sunday, September 1, 2024.
Twenty-two-year-old Bashudev has been reported missing since then, while his female companion, a native of Unjha, Gujarat, studying in the Goa Institute of Management (GIM), Sankhali, managed to swim to safety.
Speaking to O Heraldo, Station Fire Officer, Old Goa, R D Parab said, “The search has been going on for the last seven days. The Fire and Emergency Services personnel along with Coastal Police are carrying out the search operation from morning to evening. The team is going as far as five kilometres on both sides of the spot where the accident took place. However, the members of the team have now been reduced to eight- four each from Fire and Emergency Services (FES) and Coastal Police.”
According to the Old Goa Police, the incident occurred at around 12.45 am, when the duo, who had hired a rent-a-car for a weekend outing, was involved in a minor accident with another vehicle at Marcela.
In a desperate attempt to flee the scene, the pair sped away, only to be chased by an unidentified vehicle. As the chase continued, Bashudev panicked, and drove the car onto a ferry ramp and later landed into the river at St Estevam.
Meanwhile, Old Goa Police has said that the Sedan car which chased the duo has been traced near Hubballi in Karnataka, and the suspects too have been identified and being interrogated.
The Old Goa Police said the search is in progress to trace the missing person with suspicion of drowning.