Selfie death: IIT-Kharagpur professor drowns trying to save 4-year-old son

Joydeep Bhattacharya an IIT faculty died trying to save his drowning son The two were taking a selfie when the boy fell in a deep ditch Bhattacharjee tried to pull out his son from the water but lost balance and fell into the ditch himself

Another person died trying to take a selfie, this time it is a 40-year-old IIT Kharagpur professor who drowned in large water filled ditch on Sunday, August 27.

Joydeep Bhattacharya, a faculty member of Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at the premiere institution, was trying to take a selfie with his four-year-old son Udan, at Gholgoria, near the institute.

IIT sources said the 40-year-old professor was taking a stroll with his two children outside the campus when one child fell into the ditch while trying to take a selfie.

Bhattacharya tried to pull out his son from the water but lost balance and fell into the ditch.

District police superintendent Bharati Ghosh said, “He had become a little careless and slipped and fell into the quarry along with his son. Although his son could be rescued, Bhattacharya died.”

Locals rushed to the spot on hearing the sound of the professor falling, they could only see his son who they rescued. Police was informed and after Bhattacharya’s body was fished out it was taken to Kharagpur Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

A resident of Asansol, Bhattacharya had joined IIT Kharagpur in 2013. 

"We lost one of our brightest teachers of naval architecture and ocean engineering. He was in the prime of his research in marine hydrodynamics, hydro-elasticity, coastal engineering, wave and tidal energy converters," said Subhasis Tripathy, dean of the institute to The Times of India.