TOPOCK — A rental pontoon excursion turned deadly on the Colorado River near the Topock Gorge on Sunday, August 3. Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) Public Information Specialist Anita Mortensen said it was about 2:15 p.m. when the Division of Boating Safety fielded a communication involving a drowning incident in progress.
“The reporting party indicated that they had been flagged down by another boat and told that two men had gone underwater and had not resurfaced at a beach area,” Mortensen said. She said deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department (SBCSD) were first to reach the scene and that its diver was able to locate and retrieve one of the missing men and that life saving measures were implemented immediately some 20 minutes into the incident.
Mortensen said the same occurred when the diver located and retrieved the second man from the same depth of about 12-feet of water, but that both were pronounced dead following transport to the Colorado River Medical Center in Needles. The victims are identified as Anoop Gankidi, Tempe and Venkata Mukkaala, Milpitas, California, both 32.
The MCSO said that the pontoon vessel had been parked on the beach before what might have been a more tragic ordeal.
“All five occupants of the boat had entered the water to cool off when three of them slipped underwater and began to struggle,” Mortensen said. “One of the occupants was able to get back to the shallow area, however Gankidia and Mukkaala did not resurface.”
Mortensen said impairment is not a factor in a continuing investigation.
