Ravish Dewangan, a student at the University of Massachusetts, was found dead on July 12 in Puffer’s Pond.
Dewangan, a 22-year-old graduate student from India in the Chemical Engineering department in the Chemical Engineering department had gone to the popular swimming hole in North Amherst was reported missing at 6:30 p.m. after friends said an hour and 15 minutes had gone by without sight of him.
The caretaker at the conservation area reported the situation to the Amherst Police, who quickly arrived with members of the Amherst Fire Department and the Massachusetts State Police Diving Team. The team cleared other swimmers from the pond and searched the water and surrounding conservation land.
Dewangan’s body was found in about 10 feet of water near the beach off State Street. He was declared dead at the scene.
Dewangan’s death remains under investigation, but neither drugs nor alcohol appears to have been a factor. Dewangan’s family in India was notified immediately after the death.
On July 3, 2002, a 23-year-old Holyoke man died after being pulled out unconscious from the pond. In July 2000, another man swimming at the
pond at night had to be rescued and hospitalized after inhaling water.
An old stone dam across from the Mill River forms Puffer’s Pond, and the conservation area around the pond includes an extensive trail system.
Although the drowning was the second in just over a year, the pond does not have lifeguards. Many signs reading “swim at your own risk” are posted around the area. Caretakers are at the site to maintain the grounds and to make sure that people obey the conservation area’s rules.