Indian Student hits rock ledge, drowns in Crater Lake

Washington: In an unfortunate incident, a 27-year-old Indian student drowned after jumping off into the Crater Lake in the US state of Oregon, authorities have confirmed.

According to media reports, the student identified as Sumedh Mannar was doing his MS in robotics from Oregon State University and hailed from Andhra Pradesh’s Vizag.

The incident happened after Sumedh Mannar jumped off the “Jumping Rock”, a popular recreation spot at the lake which is about 25 feet high, on Sunday around 4:40 pm (local time) and failed to resurface said  Marsha McCabe, a spokeswoman for Crater Lake National Park.

Despite the height, the cliff was not a prohibited area for jumping, said the spokesperson.

Officials are yet to determine the exact reason of drowning she added.

In the summers, the surface of the lake warms up to about 15 degrees Celsius, but the average temperature of the lake is around 3 degrees. Swimming is only allowed in the area around Cleetwood Cove and along the shore of Wizard Island.

As Mannar disappeared, spectators on the scene threw a life ring into the water while the Crater Lake hospitality staff took off to search for him.

Park staff came to the area to help with the search, but choppy waters and poor visibility conditions made the search difficult.

Despite hours of searching, Mannar was nowhere to be found and the search had to be resumed on Monday morning.

Mannar was found 90 feet straight down on a rock ledge on Monday morning after the Divers searched him.

Beyond that point, the lake drops off dramatically to a depth of more than 1,200 feet. Mannar’s body was transported to Klamath Falls.