In a tragic incident, a travel influencer died after falling into a gorge while shooting a video near the Kumbhe waterfalls in the Mangaon district of Maharashtra's Raigad on Wednesday, the police said. The deceased has been identified as Aanvi Kamdar (26), a resident of Mumbai. A travel influencer, Kamdar was fond of shooting reels. She had gone to the waterfalls with her friends to enjoy the rainy season at the waterfalls.
While taking photographs and videos of the waterfall, the deceased's leg slipped, and she fell straight into a 350-foot-deep gorge. Kamdar was a chartered accountant by profession and a social media influencer known for making reels, who had over 2,50,000 followers on Instagram.
As soon as information about the incident was received, the Sahyadri Wildlife Conservation Society and Mangaon police officers reached the location, along with the rescue forces.
Superintendent of Police Raigad, Somnath Gharge, said the woman was alive after falling into the gorge and was rescued. However, during the treatment, she passed away.
"While descending to rescue the woman from the gorge, big stones were falling on us. At first, it seemed like the woman was not alive. However, after going closer, she was breathing, which confirmed that she was alive. She was immediately taken to the hospital. However, she died during the treatment," Somnath Gharge said.
The rescue operation was started after taking stock of the situation.
Earlier, on June 30, at around 12:30 pm, a family of five died after drowning in a waterfall near the Bhushi Dam in Pune's Lonavala. The bodies were recovered by the rescue teams.
One of the two children, who were missing after the family drowned, was found dead, a senior district official said.
Suhas Diwas, the District Collector of Pune, appealed to the public to be careful of their visiting surroundings and to not go near any water bodies in the rainy weather.
He said "I appeal to the public to be responsible and not go near any waterfalls or streams. We have issued advisories and the management has asked us to handle any sort of incident. Similar incidents have taken place over the last couple of days. Care needs to be taken and proper planning needs to be done, keeping in mind the weather conditions."
With ANI inputs