Russian tourist drowns in Goa

Panaji, Oct 11 (IANS) A 28-year-old Russian tourist drowned while swimming off a north Goa beach, police said Saturday.

The dead man has been identified as Nikolai Lopatainsky. The incident occurred on Friday at the picturesque Ashwem beach, where Nikolai had gone for a swim with his friends Alexandra and Ilya Linberg.

When contacted, officials at the Pernem police station informed that the tourists had arrived in Goa from Hampi, a popular heritage tourism destination in Karnataka.

While Ilya and Alexandra were saved by alert fishermen who were nearby, Nikolai drowned before they reached him, informed the police.

Meanwhile, the three men held for the murder of 65-year-old Australian John Kelly at a bar in Goa have been remanded to seven days in police custody by a local magistrate.

The three employees of a 24x7 bar and restaurant in Calangute, a tourism hotspot in coastal Goa, had been arrested after Kelly's death at a local hospital Wednesday.

Kelly had died of internal injuries after a scuffle with the trio following an argument with waiters over a bottle of beer, the police alleged. The incident had occurred at 6.30 a.m. Wednesday.