Man eludes guards, jumps off sea link

In the second suicide incident in less than a week, an unidentified man flung himself into the sea from the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli sea link on Monday evening.

In the second suicide incident in less than a week, an unidentified man flung himself into the sea from the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli sea link on Monday evening. This makes it the third suicide from sea link since it became operational three years ago, and raises questions about the lack of security arrangements on the sea link.

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Around 3.30pm, a man, dressed in a striped T-shirt and denims, entered the sea link without attracting the attention of the private security guards stationed at its entrance.

The Worli police said the guards noticed him only after he had walked some way down the bridge and he started running when the guards raised an alarm. Two of the guards gave him a chase, and he ran for close to one kilometre before jumping off the bridge.

One of the guards, Kamal Ali Abu Sama, 23, also jumped into the sea behind him, but he could not save him. “Kamal knows to swim so he jumped into the sea and tried to pull the man out, but he was heavy and resisted. He didn’t want to be saved,” said Jevan Kharat, police inspector, Worli police station.

Police officials had to help Kamal out of the choppy waters, and take him to Poddar hospital, where he has been kept under observation for 24 hours.

The fire brigade fished out the body of the man 15 minutes after the incident. The police are now in the process of establishing the deceased’s identity.