Contract diver Anwar Sadath on Tuesday drowned while repairing a naval ship at Cochin Shipyard.
The 25-year-old from the Puthukode area of Kerala's Malappuram district had been employed at the Diver Academy, a maritime company engaged in supplying divers to companies on a contract-basis. He had five years' experience in this field, a Malayala Manorama report said.
According to the Ernakulam South police, the accident took place just after 4 PM, while Sadath was conducting a shaft inspection on the vessel that had been undergoing repairs since morning that day, the report added.
A safety diver, said to have one year's worth of experience in this field, had been monitoring Sadath's progress from above, and had been receiving regular updates.
However, at around 4 PM, the safety diver lost contact, and did not respond to multiple signals after that, triggering alarm.
Though the 25-year-old was alive when he was brought to the surface by two divers and rushed to the hospital, he died about an hour later, and was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.
The police registered a case of unnatural death, and also handed over Anwar Sadath's body to his family after the postmortem procedures were completed.
This follows the death of professional underwater diver Clarence D'Souza just a few months ago under similar circumstances.
The 42-year-old had been found unconscious during a September 2025 job for an offshore casino, and was taken to the Goa Medical College (GMC), a Times of India report said.
When interrogated by the police, the casino vessel's captain, Udai Raj Singh Chauhan, revealed that D'Souza had taken all the necessary precautions—and had also signed the company's checklist form—before diving underwater to clean the vessel.
The safety diver had also been monitoring him from above, but when D'Souza turned unresponsive, he was quickly brought up to the surface, and was in an unconscious state.
He was administered CPR, and was quickly rushed to Panaji's Campal Clinic, but was declared dead on arrival., after which he was shifted to the GMC.
