Correspondent, NewsCrunch
A 17-year-old student drowned in a pond near Bangalore, India, just as his friends were clicking group selfies.
A photo taken during the selfie session caught Vishwas drowning in the background. But his friends, who were busy striking poses for the camera, failed to notice him drowning.
Twenty-five students from National College had gone trekking to a hill near Bangalore on September 23.
After the students came down the hill at 2 pm, a few of them went to a nearby pond to swim and take selfies.
Vishwas, who did not know how to swim, slipped and fell into the water while posing for the photos, and drowned.
They noticed that he was missing after an hour. Sumanth, a student in the group, said, “After swimming, we left to visit a temple, and realised that Vishwas was not around.”
While a few went to search for him, a classmate, who was replaying the new selfies on his mobile phone, noticed that Vishwas had drowned in the tank in a photo.
The group then rushed to the pond and fished his body out.
The police have registered a case of unnatural death and are probing the incident.
“The students ignored a signboard put up by local villagers saying that no one should enter the water,“ a police officer said.
Vishwas’ father Govindappa, who rushed to the spot, has lodged a complaint with police alleging that negligence by the National College management had cost his son’s life.