A Seabird naval base officer was killed in a freak motorglider mishap at Rabindranath Tagore beach on Friday.
The victim has been identified as Madhusudhan Reddy (56), a native of Gedare Bommasandra near Gowribidanuru, Chikkaballapur. Glider instructor Vidhyadhar Vaidya escaped unhurt in the incident.
Reddy and Vaidya flew the motorglider for two rounds. After a while, the glider developed a snag and plunged into the sea at some distance from the beach. Local fishermen and expert swimmers managed to rescue the instructor. Reddy, however, got entangled with the rope as the glider dragged him below the water.
The lifeguards swung into action and managed to pull Reddy, along with the glider, out of the water. But their efforts proved too little and too late. Reddy was declared brought dead by the doctors at the district hospital. The Town police have registered a case and investigation is underway.