Uttar Pradesh: Three boys drown in Ghaghra river, two missing

Rajeev Dikshit | TNN | May 4, 2020, 16:38 IST

Police and administrative officials monitor search and rescue operation on the river bank

VARANASI: Three boys lost their lives while two others are missing after they drowned in Ghaghra river in Athgawa area of Ballia district on Monday.
SO Bairiya Sanjay Kumar Tripathi said that total five boys drowned while bathing in the river. Of them, bodies of three had been fished out by the divers while search for two others continued. SDM Ashok Chawdhary, CO Bairiya Ashok Kumar Singh and many senior officers were camping near incident site to monitor the rescue operation, he said.
Police said Lavkush Yadav (16), Vikas Yadav (16), Pappu Yadav (10), Vishal Yadav (14) and Lalu Yadav (8) of Fakhru Rai ka Dera village under Bairiya police station reached the river bank in Athgava area. After playing there for sometime, they started diving into the river.
However, in this bid, they started drowning in deep waters. On seeing them in trouble, some villagers raised an alarm and tried to rescue them. But, due to the strong current of stream in the river, they failed to rescue the boys.
Tripathi said that divers had succeeded in retrieving bodies of three boys. Due to the strong current of river stream, the divers were facing difficulties in continuing search operation, he said adding, efforts were on to locate the missing boys.