You don’t have any Active Subscription.
Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one.
Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription
Weather News October 31, 2026 e-Paper
The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.
First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.
Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.
Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in!
Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers
THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers
Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there
Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary.
The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.
Updated - April 23, 2024 03:30 pm IST - RAMESWARAM
A file photo of a long-distance swimmer in the Palk Strait between Sri Lanka and India. The deceased, Gopal Rao from Bengaluru, was part of a relay swimming event from Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi, on April 23, 2024. | Photo Credit: Photo for representation only
A 78-year-old man, Gopal Rao, of Bengaluru, Karnataka, died of a heart attack while he was swimming from Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka to the Dhanushkodi islet in Rameswaram, T.N., on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
Mr. Rao was part of a group of 31 swimmers who held a relay swimming event from Sri Lanka to India through the Palk Strait. The swimmers had left Rameswaram by a boat, and had gone to Sri Lanka on April 22. At 12.10 a.m. on April 23, they began swimming from Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka towards Dhanushkodi.
Gopal Rao, believed to have been the third swimmer on the row, began feeling uneasy and complained of chest pains at 3.10 a.m. He was immediately helped to get into the boat that was accompanying the swimmers. The doctor attending on him however, subsequently declared that he was dead.
As a mark of respect, all the other swimmers cancelled the relay event and reached Dhanushkodi islet by boat.
The body has been sent for a post-mortem to the Rameswaram Government Hospital. The Rameswaram Town police have registered a case.
It is said that the group of swimmers had obtained all necessary clearances from both the Indian and Sri Lankan governments for the event.
Published - April 23, 2024 01:22 pm IST
Tamil Nadu / Madurai / swimming / death / India-Sri Lanka / sports event
Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
Loading comments…