Picnic tragedy in Suva
Tuesday, December 26, 1978
AFAMILY picnic turned into tragedy during Christmas eve in 1978 when a youth, his sister and their brother-in-law drowned in seas off Veiuto, Suva.
They were Ajit Kumar, 19, son of Ram Din of Kaunitoni St, Vatuwaqa, his sister, Manjula Wati, 15, and their brother-in-law, Rakesh J.Dhani 25, son of Ram Dhani, of Mead Rd.
Police said in The Fiji Times of Tuesday, December 26, 1978, that the three were members of a family group of about 25 who had gone on a picnic.
At about 2.30pm, Ajit and Manjula went swimming opposite Suva Grammar School while the rest of the party played cards near the seawall.
Soon Ajit and Manjula were joined by another family member, Anjula Wati.
After Ajula had been in the water for about 10 minutes, she screamed that Manjula had drowned.
When the rest of the party rushed to the seawall, they saw Ajit standing near a spot which was deeper than the rest of the water – a deep wide hole, opposite the Queen Elizabeth Drive water outlet culverts.
Ajit shouted out to the party on and near the seawall that Manjula had disappeared into the hole and that he was going to look for her. He dived into the hole.
One of his hands broke the water once and waved at the party above. He was not seen alive again.
When Ajit failed to come up again, his brother-in-law-, Rakesh, who was sitting on the seawall, dived into the hole to look for Ajit and Manjula. He drowned also.
After Rakesh failed to come up again, Ram Din, Ajit and Manjula’s father rushed in his car towards Central Police Station.
On the way he met a police patrol and sought their help. Police later recovered the bodies, and examination at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital post-mortem showed that all three had drowned.
Rakesh was married with a three-year-old son.
Police warned that people should not go into the water without experienced swimmers to look after them.