Two leap off Amona bridge, one drowns

TEAM HERALD

PONDA: A college student was feared drowned, while her sister was rescued when both of them jumped off the Amona Bridge at Khandola on Monday afternoon.

According to police reports, the incident occurred at about 3 pm when Neeta Gawas (23) and her sister, Sujata (18) from Morlem-Sattari jumped into the river. Some labourers, who were extracting sand in their canoes, rushed to the spot and managed to rescue Sujata, but were unable to locate Neeta.

Neeta is a first-year BA student of Government College of Arts and Science, Sanquelim, while Sujata is studying in Std 11 in the same college. Ponda Police Inspector C L Patil told Herald that Sujata was rescued and rushed to the GMC Hospital in Bambolim, while her sister Neeta was feared drowned. The two sisters had left a book and their identity cards at the site, before jumping off the bridge.

A team from the Ponda Police and Ponda fire services along with a group of residents from Amona were busy involved in search operations to locate Neeta till late Monday evening. 

According to police, the two sisters belong to a family of four sisters and four brothers. While the motive behind the drastic step was unclear, police have suspected that they may have taken the step due to harassment from some close family members.

Later in her statement to the police from GMC hospital, Sujata said they had taken the drastic step because one brother was pressuring them to do well in their studies.