Indian student from Kerala feared drowned in Latvia

An Indian student from Kerala is feared to have drowned while swimming in the Jugla canal in Latvia’s Riga.

A Latvian news website reported that the student, identified as Albin Shinto, was swimming in the canal with four others on July 18, when he started drowning.

Two of Albin’s friends tried to save him, but they too started to drown. A fisherman, who was passing through the area, managed to save the friends with his boat, but Albin drowned, the website reported.

Police and rescue personnel rushed to the spot and a search operation was launched. However, the operation was called off after a few hours as it was getting dark. When Albin’s friends asked when the search would be resumed next, they were initially told that it would resume the next day. Later, they were told that it would be resumed on Monday because of “limited resources being available to conduct large-scale and lengthy search operations”, the website reported.

The Indian Embassy of Sweden and Latvia said in a post on X, “Embassy is in regular contact with Latvian authorities regarding the unfortunate incident of suspected drowning of an Indian student in Riga We remain in touch with the family and will continue to extend all possible help”