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Ludhiana: SDRF divers fish out 2 bodies from Sutlej, three still missing
On Monday evening, the search and rescue operation was halted due to darkness and would resume on Tuesday morning
A day after five youths were feared drowned in Sutlej River near Kasabad village, the divers pressed into service by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) fished out two bodies, officials said. They added that three youngsters were still missing.
On Monday evening, the search and rescue operation was halted due to darkness and would resume on Tuesday morning.
The divers recovered the bodies of Misbah-ul Ansari, 18, and Mohammad Ahsaan, 18.
The incident occurred on Sunday evening when a group of six youngsters, identified as Shami, Ansari, Zaheer, Nisalu, Sameer and Shebaaz, went to take a dip in the Sutlej River near Kasabad village. Shami, Ansari, Zaheer and Nisalu disappeared in the water while Sameer and Shebaz remained on the banks. They alerted the villagers and later, the police were informed.
The villagers, along with the divers, reached the spot and a search operation was started. Police teams also rushed to the spot on Sunday.
After recovering two bodies, the rescue teams learned that three youngsters had come to take a dip on Sunday morning as well, Ahsaan, who was among those missing, was from that group.
Sub-inspector Deepak Kumar from the SDRF said that a team of 16 personnel was engaged in the search and rescue operation. He added that a search was underway to find the remaining three youngsters. SI Deepak said one of the bodies was recovered a km away from the point where the victims were taking a bath, and the other was recovered around 1.5km away.
He added that the teams were making all-possible efforts to trace the missing youngsters.
Manveer Dhaliwal, a local, said that the villagers had tried to stop the youngsters from jumping into the water, but the latter did not pay any heed to them.
According to the villagers, Kasabad is the nearest riverbank to the city and youngsters often come to take a dip in cold water there. The villagers requested the police to patrol the area in the summers to deter the youngsters from diving into the river.
Another youth missing for past 9 days
Aditya, a resident of Bhattian Colony, was at the banks of Sutlej in Kasabad with the hope of finding his younger brother’s body, who drowned around 9 days ago.
Aditya said that his brother went to take a dip in Sutlej with his friends 9 days ago and slipped and drowned in the river. The local divers tried to search for the body, but to no avail. As teams of SDRF were searching for the bodies of some youngsters, he came with the hope that they would find his brother.
