A 33-year-old man drowned after he fainted and fell into a swimming pool at a resort in Gujarat’s Rajkot on Sunday, police said. The victim, Ajay Rathod, was at the resort to celebrate his son’s birthday and his wedding anniversary when the incident occurred.
A three-minute CCTV footage shows Ajay, a resident of Navagam, seen relaxing at the edge of the swimming pool. He gets up and walks briefly while watching his nine-year-old son, Vihaan, play, before he faints and falls into the water, Police Inspector SG Rathod said.
Despite Ajay, whose death was initially attributed to drowning, losing consciousness and falling into the pool, bystanders remained motionless and did not act to help him, as seen in the video. The delay proved fatal, and he drowned before help could reach him.
Ajay’s family was initially unaware that he had fallen unconscious and assumed he fell into the pool while bathing. However, when he did not come up, they then pulled him out and administered CPR to him, but could not be saved, Rathod added.
The victim and his family arrived at the resort around 11 am on Sunday to celebrate his wedding anniversary and his son’s birthday, which was on Saturday.
“Around 1 pm on Sunday, Ajay was standing near the swimming pool when he fainted and fell into it. His family was unaware he had become unconscious. When they realised later, they pulled him out and tried to save him by administering CPR. He was immediately hospitalised, but doctors declared him brought dead,” Rathod said.
Initially, Ajay’s death was attributed to drowning, but police will investigate how the victim fainted and conducted a post-mortem at Rajkot Civil Hospital.
The exact cause of the victim’s death will be revealed only after police receive the post-mortem report, Rathod further said.
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(with inputs from Ronak Yogeshkumar Majithiya in Rajkot)
