Andhra constable swims Palk Strait in a record 8.25 hours

The constable, Thulasi Chaitanya of Vijayawada, an accomplished swimmer, covered the distance of 33 km in 8 hours 25 minutes and 29 seconds. It’s the shortest time taken by a swimmer to cross from Talaimannar to Dhanushkodi. 

Chaitanya had gone to Talaimannar from Dhanushkodi on a mechanised boat accompanied by 25 people, including his friends, family, coach and fishermen. 

After reaching Talaimannar, he took rest for sometime and started from there at 1 am. 

After swimming for over 8 hours non-stop, he reached Dhanushkodi by 9.25 am. It was a new world record. From 1960, 13 swimmers have successfully crossed the Palk Strait region. 

In Dhanushkodi, he was welcomed by his family members and they celebrated his success by distributing sweets. After setting the world record, Chaitanya addressed the media and said his aim was to swim in seven tough seas across five continents. He also said Palk Strait was one of the toughest because of the powerful current. However, Chaitanya was lucky as the water current was favourable on Sunday.

On Saturday, Raja Eswara Prabhu of Chennai had crossed the same 33 nautical mile distance in 11 hours and 58 minutes. The record has been broken within a day. However, the sea current did not favour Prabhu. 

Kutraleeswaran holds the record for the youngest swimmer to cross the Palk Strait as he was just 12 when he crossed it in April 1994.