A professor at IIT-ISM, Dhanbad, drowned to death while taking a bath in the swimming pool on Tuesday. Dr. Yashwant Gujala, Assistant Professor, IIT-ISM, Dhanbad, went to take a bath with his friends in the campus swimming pool in the morning, when the incident took place.
He was taken to the health centre of ISM, but the doctors referred him to Shaheed Nirmal Mahato Medical College, Dhanbad where he was declared dead. Prof. Yashwant Gujala, a resident of Odisha, was married only a year ago. There were 28 people in the pool when Dr Gujala drowned.
The swimming pool has two sides. One can wade straight down into the swimming pool where the water is less. On the other hand, one can also jump directly into the swimming pool.
Dr Yashwant jumped into the swimming pool from the other side. After jumping, he went straight under the water, which caused him to drown. The aides pulled him out and took him to the health centre.
An official said that Dr. Yashwant Gujala used to come for swimmning regularly and he also knew swimmimg, yet how he drowned is doubtful. A postmortem report is awaited which may give clear reason for his death.
A pale of gloom descended on the IIT (ISM) campus as soon as the news of the mishap broke out. Institute's director Rajeev Shekhar and deputy director Prof. Dhiraj Kumar reached the spot. They said that the relatives of Dr. Yashwant have been informed. He is originally from Odisha, but the family lives in Kharagpur, West Bengal.
Meanwhile, two programmes scheduled for Tuesday at IIT(ISM), Dhanbad, were postponed after the tragedy. Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi was to inaugurate a multipurpose building at IIT ISM and the Jharkhand School Innovation Challenge.
