Close shave for Gujarat couple as rope snaps off Diu coast
A TEACHER and her husband had a close shave as they landed in the sea after their parachute’s rope snapped while parasailing off the Nagoa beach of the Union Territory of Diu Sunday. However, the couple had their life jackets on and were rescued by lifeguards deployed at the popular beach.
The incident happened around 1 pm Sunday when Sarala Kathad (31), a teacher at a central authority primary school in Bhanvad taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka, and her husband Ajit Kathad (30) went parasailing on the beach off the Una coast of Gujarat. About a minute after they were airborne, their parachute’s rope tied to the powerboat that was dragging it snapped, leaving it with none anchor.
In the videos that went viral on social media, Ajit’s elder brother Rakesh, who was aboard the powerboat to which the parachute was anchored, can be heard shouting in panic even as the boat operators told him, “kain nahi thay (nothing will happen to them).”
Eventually, the parachute landed around 100 m off the coast and the couple was rescued by lifeguards of Palms Adventure and Motorsports (PAM), the private firm operating the parasailing service.
“After the rope snapped just as we attained the maximum altitude, the parachute started swaying from one way to the other as we didn’t know how to control it. Seconds later, we plunged into the sea. While we remained afloat thanks to our life jackets, my wife was in a state of shock and couldn’t speak for a few minutes. We requested help from the powerboat to which our parachute was anchored but they told us the lifeguards would save us. Around five minutes later, the lifeguards came on another powerboat and rescued us,” Ajit, a multipurpose health worker (MPHW) at the Ghed Bagasara primary health centre (PHC) in Mangrol taluka of Junagadh told
He said his wife in the end overcame the shock and they escaped the mishap without any bodily damage. However, he claimed that his elder brother had pointed out a worn-out section of the rope which the operators ignored. “Six of our family had purchased tickets for parasailing. After we boarded the boat, my elder brother identified to the operator a worn-out segment of the tethering rope of the parachute. However, the operator dismissed it saying the section of the rope won’t
be reeled out. We don’t know if that part of the rope snapped off or what came about,” Ajit, a local of the Sarsali village in Mangrol stated further.
The couple then went to the Diu police station to lodge a complaint but sooner or later did not. “The response from the service operator was very irresponsible. They said we were rescued and nothing happened and no one died. We asked them if they are waiting to do something after someone dies. We asked why they did not pay heed to my brother’s complaint about the weak section of the rope. But they were rude. Therefore, I went to the police station with the intention to lodge a complaint. But returned without filing a complaint as my family members were still in shock,” said the health worker.
Later on, he added, PAM’s proprietor Mohanbhai called him. “He sought to divert the issue by offering us a stay at his Hotel Palm. But we refused the offer,” Ajit said, adding, he had done parasailing a couple of times earlier but his wife was doing it for the first time.
