By Amika

Pune: After a nasty quarrel with his wife, a 45-year-old man jumped into the Pavana River in Pimpri Chinchwad on Saturday but emerged from the river, hale qnd hearty, after a good nine hours.

The great survivor has been identifed as Babasaheb Keshav Pawar, a resident of Chincchwadenagar, Chinchwad.

Mr Pawar, who is a liquor addict as per his family, jumped into Pavana river around 11 am from Jadhav ghat in Walhekarwadi area on Saturday. Near the river ghat, he quarrelled with his wife and in a jiffy threw himself into the river despite being persuaded by his wife and kid.

His family immediately alerted the police, who informed the Pimpri-Chinchwad fire brigade. 

The fire brigade personnel launched a search for him, it was joined by PCMC disaster management squad also reached the spot. A team of NGOs from Maval then arrived to assist in the search. 

PCMC fire officer Gautam Ingwale told media persons in Pimpri-Chinchwad, "We saw a shirt hanging from a tree branch. We searched around the trees and bushes close to the banks of the swollen river. However, we could not locate him."

The man had jumped into the river right in front of his family members. 

The man said the fire brigade was an expert swimmer. He swam for a distance. Then, as he swam close to the bank of the river, he probably got stuck in the bushes and the thick growth where even some tall trees were visible. We suspected that he could be in and around this spot. We searched for him desperately but found no trace of him, Mr Ingwale told the media.

As it was getting darker, the fire brigade and other rescue teams stopped the search and left the place. ''Around 8 pm, we got a call from the police that the man had emerged from the riverbed and had been taken to the hospital,'' said Mr Ingawale.

Ingwale said the man told his family that he was hanging on to the bushes while being submerged in the river. ''We can't believe he could stay this long in the water. The police said he was shivering when he came out of the water. Probably he was holding onto the thick growth and stayed there quietly,'' Ingawale added.