Gujarat: Couple rescued from Islet in Auranga river after 4 hours

SURAT: A couple that had gone to offer prayers at a temple and spend some moments together on an islet had a scare of their life following sudden rise in water level of river Auranga in Valsad on Wednesday. After being stranded for nearly four hours, the couple was rescued by a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel.
The couple had walked up to the islet on river Auranga near Ghadoi village to offer prayer at a temple on Wednesday afternoon.
Nilesh (21) and his friend Snehal (18) had gone to the islet in the afternoon and offered prayer at a temple there. Later they were sitting and chatting when the water level suddenly started rising. Before they could walk back to the river bank the water level rose dangerously.
As the couple got stranded on the islet, a huge crowd gathered there with villagers and fire teams trying to rescue them. But due to heavy current in the river they could not rescue the couple. Ultimately, the NDRF team was called in which rescued the couple using a boat after a two-hour-long operation.
“It seems they did not get time to return due to the sudden rise in water level. It was challenging for us to keep the boat steady in such strong water current,” said Vijaysingh Sondaliya, sub-inspector of 6th NDRF battalion, Jarod, Vadodara.
At around 3.50 pm NDRF team was called for the rescue operation. About 22 jawans arrived at the spot and examined the situation and found that it would be impossible to directly enter by boat. Hence, first expert divers went up to the islet holding a rope and tied it’s one end to a tree there. Later, a boat was brought to the islet using a rope. The couple was rescued using the boat.
The couple had two mobile phones and they were making panic calls to friends and family for rescue. “We advised them to save the battery and we used their phones to give instructions to them and communicate with our team that went on the islet,” said a NDRF official.