Image for representational purposes only.
A late Sunday evening outing on August 3, 2025 in a waterbody turned fatal for two of the five picnickers in the scenic Topock Gorge of the Colorado river. “The victims have been identified as Anoop Gankidi, 32 of Tempe, Arizona, and Venkata Mukkaala, 32 of Milpitas, California,” according to a statement released by Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
The Indian-origin men had hired a rental pontoon which was parked on the edge of the river at the time of the incident. “All five occupants of the boat had entered the water to cool off when three of them slipped underwater and began to struggle. One of the occupants was able to get back to the shallow area, however Gankidi and Mukkaala did not resurface,” says the statement by the Sheriff’s office.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department which was first to arrive at the scene deployed a diver. The SBCSD diver was able to locate and retrieve one of the missing men and tried life-saving measures before transporting the person to water safety centre. Both the men were transported to the Colorado River Medical Center in Needles but were pronounced deceased.
Investigators said that the two victims had been underwater for approximately 20 minutes when divers arrived on scene and were located in approximately 12 feet of water. The men were not under influence, said the sheriff’s office.
Published – August 06, 2025 07:54 am IST
