40 rescued off the coast of Mumbai since January 2019

Drishti Lifesaving Pvt Ltd were appointed by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and Mumbai Fire Brigade in Jan 2019 to provide lifeguarding services and manage beach safety at the six popular beaches along the Mumbai coast - Girgaum, Dadar, Juhu, Versova, Aksa and Gorai – which witness high footfalls.

Since the start of the year when the services commenced, a total of 40 persons have been rescued while swimming off the coast and brought back to safety in 18 separate incidents.

The highest number of rescue cases have been reported in Juhu which saw 19 rescues followed by Girgaum with 7 rescues, Aksa had 6 rescues while Gorai had 4. Versova and Dadar witnesses 2 rescues respectively. Despite efforts from the lifeguards, Girgaum witnessed 1 drowning.

Of the people rescued, two incidents were related to attempted suicides, one each at Juhu and Versova beach. Both incidents involved senior citizens who were rescued by the alert lifeguards posted there.

In a significant rescue operation which took place in April off the coast of Juhu, a boat of the local watersport operator carrying 12 passengers and crew capsized while going out to sea for a boat ride. All 12 members of the family and the boat crew were safely rescued by the Drishti lifeguards present on the beach.

Drishti has a well-trained team of 124 lifeguards who are deployed across the 6 lifeguarded beaches in Mumbai. All of Drishti's lifeguards are trained and certified by the Special Rescue Training Academy an internationally accredited training agency.

Said Ravi Shankar, CEO, Drishti Lifesaving,

We advise caution to all those visiting the beaches and request them to pay heed to the instructions of the lifeguards. Due to weather and sea conditions there are underwater and rip currents which are not easily detectable. However, the lifeguards monitor the shore closely every day and alert visitors not to venture into the water.

Drishti Lifesaving also looks into rescue services, garbage management, beach and marine safety across all the beaches of Goa, on behalf of the Department of Tourism, Government of Goa for the past decade.

Drishti employs over 600 lifeguards to provide lifeguarding services across the beach stretch of Goa and internal water bodies of Dudhsagar and Mayem Lake. Additionally, the company also operates a Beach Safety Patrol, providing beach marshals from sunset till midnight. Since 2008, Drishti lifeguards have saved over 4000 lives due to intervention rescue operations reducing deaths on Goa’s beaches by 99 per cent.