3 Class XI students from Bokaro drown in Damodar river

Bokaro: Three Class-XI students of a prominent school in the city drowned in Damodar River near Bhatua Basti under Harla police station on Sunday and their bodies are yet to be found till the time of filing this report.
According to sources, the three boys — Shubham Kumar Mishra, Harsh Raj and Basant Kumar — all students of MGM Higher Secondary School and residents of Sector 3, Sector 9 and Sector 12 police station areas, along with six other had gone to the river for a bath after leaving their homes in the morning. The boys told their parents that they were going for tuition classes and to play a cricket match. Currently, Damodar is in spate because of the monsoon and with Tenughat Dam opening its sluice gates.
MGM school principal Father Rezi C Varghese described the incident as “very unfortunate” and requested the district administration to find the children.
Harla police station officer-in-charge Jai Gobind Gupta said they have started a rescue operation. Describing the incident, Gupta said five of the students were standing on the bank while four of them took bath. “When Shubham started to drown, Basant went to help him but he alone could not and Harsh also joined to help the duo. However, all of them were being washed away by the strong current and another of their friends, Nitin, also tried to help but could not and came out of the water,” Gupta said.
Following the incident, the other students fled from the spot but Nitin immediately informed the local people, who in turn contacted the police.