Six marooned in dargah rescued at midnight

Rajkot: Defying the odds against incessant rain and rising water levels, six persons marooned in a dargah were rescued with the help of floodlights in a midnight rescue operation in Morbi taluka on Thursday night.
According to the personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), these devouts had gone to offer prayers in the evening at the dargah between Amran and Fadsar villages when heavy downpour resulted in the premises being surrounded by flood water with strong currents barring the escape route for the trapped people.
Finally, the victims including a child could be rescued safely in inflated rubber dinghies. They were identified as Deepak Pandya (55), Sharif Kochalia (50), Bhikhu Khirani (55), his son Sahil Khirani (24), Mehboob Bagwani (32), and his four-year-old son Moinuddin Bagwani.
When the overflowing water surrounded the dargah at around 6 pm, one of the victims called up Fadsar village sarpanch Babu Kumbharvadia for help. Kumbharvadia immediately took two swimmers to the spot. However, the current was so strong that the swimmers could not risk trying to cross over.
“Then Kumbharvadia called up Morbi disaster control room, which in turn alerted the NDRF team. Amid falling rain, the team members crossed the stream and rescued the victims,” said an official from the Morbi disaster control room.
Meanwhile, heavy rains on Thursday threw traffic between Fadsar, Moti Vavdi, and Badanpar villages completely out of gear. A big crater was also created by the lashing rains in Virparada village of Morbi taluka.
On the other hand, NDRF personnel on Friday fished out the body of Karan Joshi (23) who had drowned in Palardhuna waterfall near Bhuj in Kutch district on Wednesday.
Baru Minama (55), who had drowned in the pond of Tarsai village of Jamjodhpur taluka in Jamnagar district on Thursday evening, was also brought out on the same night.