In a display of bravery, Malaysian tourist Farah Putri Mulyani rescued a local man from drowning at Sri Lanka’s Diyaluma Waterfall. The incident occurred when the man, who was swimming in the waterfall, inadvertently ventured into the deep end and began struggling to stay afloat. His distressed friends shouted for help, but it was Ms Mulyani, who was nearby, who swiftly took action.

A video of the rescue shows her diving into the water and swimming towards the man, before pulling him to safety with great effort. Once they reached the shore, the man’s friends helped him away from the water, shaken but grateful for Ms Mulyani’s quick thinking and selfless act.

Ms Mulyani later shared the video on social media, recounting the experience and issuing a cautionary warning to others about the potential dangers lurking beneath the surface of waterfalls.

In the video, she said, “This incident completely shifted the focus of my trip. It made me realise that more people need to be aware of the potential dangers at waterfalls. The pools can be incredibly deep, and without a current to help you swim, it becomes even more dangerous, especially if you’re not a strong swimmer. Since this happened, I’ve been in deep reflection”

Here’s the video:

Malaysian tourist Farah Putri Mulyani saved a Sri Lankan local from drowning after he stepped into deep waters.

She noticed the person struggling and without any second thought she jumped in to save the person.

pic.twitter.com/1nyJZ4WTlE

— Kumar Manish (@kumarmanish9) February 14, 2025

The post sparked an outpouring of admiration, with users flooding the comments section to praise the woman’s selfless bravery and quick thinking. 

One user wrote, “Give her a medal for bravery and humanity. Selflessly volunteered to save a life. What a beautiful soul!” Another commented, “Bring this to the attention of the tourism authority to ensure her journey to Sri Lanka becomes a lifelong memory.”

A third said, “The Sri Lankan government should indeed honour Malaysian tourist Farah Putri Mulyani for her heroic act of saving a Sri Lankan from drowning.”

A fourth added, “Waterfalls may look beautiful, but they can be deadly if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Suryapet:

Two men and a 12-year-old girl have died after drowning in a lake in the Suryapet district of Telangana, police said.

The incident occurred on the outskirts of Bopparam village within Atmakur police station limits in the district on Wednesday, they said.

Police said that the victims were attending a birthday party in the village when the incident took place. The bodies have been shifted to Suryapet District Hospital for post-mortem examination.

According to police, the deceased have been identified as Tippareddy Sripalreddy (42), a builder from Khammam, and his friend Shavalya Raju (45), a software professional from Narsaraopet, Andhra Pradesh, and Shavalya Raju’s daughter, Shavalya Usha (12), a student.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

An aspiring doctor from the United States was left brain dead after his friends pushed him into a lake in Louisiana despite knowing he couldn’t swim and then watched helplessly as he drowned, as per a report in the New York Post. A shocking video that is making rounds on social media shows the group staring into the lake minutes after pushing Christopher Gilbert over the dock at Lake D’Arbonne in Farmerville on April 14.

In the clip, a woman is seen going into the lake to search for the man before abandoning the rescue mission. Almost 10 minutes later, a customer at a neighbouring restaurant intervened and brought Mr Gilbert back to shore, just in time. The 26-year-old was brain dead when he arrived at a local hospital, and his other organs were failing, according to his mother, Yolanda George.

The medical student spent 72 hours on a ventilator and an ECMO machine which the mother said is a “dialysis for the lungs.” She said, “I was devastated. I felt like my life had ended in that moment. My son is aspiring to be a medical doctor, my son is going to be a medical doctor. He got his master’s last year in biological science. He’s preparing for medical school so for this to have happened to him … I was just devastated.”

According to investigators, his friends originally sought to dismiss the near-death as “horse-play.” The group even lied to the mother after he was rescued. “A friend of his called and she was hysterical crying. She told me that Chris has fell into the lake and he had been underwater for 10 minutes or so,” the mother said.

After a while, another woman about Mr Gilbert’s age acknowledged shoving him into the water. However, none of the members of the group acknowledged that they knew he couldn’t swim, something Mr Gilbert’s family finds hard to accept, as per the outlet.

“Why would you push my son in the lake knowing he couldn’t swim?” Ms George questioned. In addition, the family is requesting that an arrest be made in connection with the terrible occurrence, citing the friends’ criminal intent in shoving him into the lake.

The lawyer representing the Gilbert family added, “To add insult to injury, after pushing him, no one from the ‘friend group’ attempted to go in after him. Instead, two brave bystanders, who have no relationship to Chris, heard commotion and retrieved his body from the lake.”

Although the 26-year-old is responding to the treatment, he is unable to speak. He is still on life support and his lungs are said to be at 20 per cent capacity.