PANJIM: Derrick Raj, 19, son of Johnson Vaz, a resident of Prakash Wadi, Andheri, Mumbai has been reportedly feared drowned in an abandoned stone quarry at Shirven-Chimbel.
The Old Goa police stated that Derrick along with seven others had gone to the stone quarry for an outing when a girl fromthe group decided to take a plunge into the waters. She however started drowning as the water was deep and Derrick along with his another friend Abner jumped into the quarry to rescue her.
While Abner and the girl struggled and managed to swim back to safety, Derrick however failed to come out of the quarry. His distressed friends then gave a call to Old Goa fire brigade at around 5.30 pm on Sunday and Station Fire Officer (SFO) Ganesh Govekar along with his team and the Old Goa police rushed to the site and frantically tried to trace the missing teenager in vain.
They had to abandon the search operations due to darkness and will search operations on Monday morning, said Govekar
Police however stated that the abandoned stone quarry had claimed many lives before and it needs to be fenced in order to avoid more such tragedies in future.
It is reportedly learnt that Derrick had arrived in Goa along with his cousin on a holiday and were staying with their relatives at Merces. The duo were supposed to leave for Mumbai on Monday evening.
Old Goa Police led by PSI Sudhir Redkar were also part of the search operations.