Indian stuntmen drown after jumping from helicopter into lake for action film

Two stuntmen who did not know how to swim have drowned after jumping from a helicopter into a lake while shooting a film.

Raghav Uday and Anil Verma jumped into the lake in southern India while shooting an action sequence for the film on Monday. Video footage of the scene shows the men landing in the water and thrashing around on the surface before disappearing from view.

Local fishermen in small boats rowed into the middle of the Thippagondanahalli reservoir, around 35km west of Bengaluru, but found no trace of the two men, the Times of India reports.

Indian cinema actor Duniya Vijay (C) stands with rescue officials as they search for two stuntmen in a reservoir at Thippagondanahalli (AFP)
Police superintendent Chandra Gupta said on Tuesday that neither of the stuntmen knew how to swim and were not wearing life vests.

He said a motorboat that was supposed to rush to the scene and rescue them was found not to be working.

Officials of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, said the film crew had violated the agreed conditions for using the reservoir, saying they had banned the crew from taking aerial shots and entering prohibited areas, including the water. 

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One of Kannada cinema's top actors, Duniya Vijay, also jumped into the water with the stuntmen, but managed to swim and was later rescued by a fisherman. Kannada language is spoken in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, which has a thriving film industry. 

Shortly before the incident, Mr Uday and Mr Anil had reportedly expressed reservations about shooting the action sequence.

“I only know a little swimming […] I’ve never had practice swimming 30ft or 60ft lengths,” Mr Anil told PublicTV, local online site News Minute reports.