Goa environment activist Fr Bolmax Pereira dies after suffering heart attack

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Goa-based environmentalist and Catholic priest Fr Bolmax Pereira passed away at a state-run hospital near Panaji on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack, doctors said. He was 50.

Fr Pereira, who spearheaded several environmental agitations and was serving as a priest at St Francis Xavier Church, Chicalim in South Goa, suffered a heart attack at Vasco railway station on Saturday when he was on his way to a picnic along with parishioners.

He fainted at the railway station, after which he was referred to a private hospital in Vasco and later to the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), sources said.

He suffered another massive heart attack at the hospital on Saturday night, following which he was placed on life support, a senior GMCH doctor said.

The priest breathed his last at 4.30 am on Tuesday, May 26, GMCH Medical Superintendent Dr Rajesh Patil told PTI.

Fr Pereira had led several agitations to protect the environment, including opposition to the double-tracking of the railway route near Vasco and the destruction of the Mollem forests to make way for an electricity project.

State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had visited the GMCH on Monday morning to inquire about the priest's health and later, in a post on X, assured the best possible treatment and care for him.

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