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Teen among two drown in Sirhind Canal in Punjab’s Bathinda
Victims have been identified as Paras Nath, a 23-year-old electrical product dealer, and Rishu Mishra, 16. The victims had got together to celebrate the birth of Nath’s son.
Two persons, including a teenager from Uttar Pradesh, drowned in the Bathinda branch of the Sirhind canal on Thursday.
Victims have been identified as Paras Nath, a 23-year-old electrical product dealer, and Rishu Mishra, 16. The victims had got together to celebrate the birth of Nath’s son.
Relatives of the victims said Rishu had come to his maternal uncle’s residence during the school summer break and was scheduled to return to his hometown Gonda on Saturday. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were pressed into service on Friday morning to trace the missing persons. Thermal station house officer (SHO) Harjot Singh said both went missing late Thursday evening, and their bodies were recovered about 1 km downstream from where they slipped in the canal.
“Bodies have been sent to the Bathinda civil hospital. Further action will be taken based on the autopsy report,” the SHO said.
According to the information, Nath’s son was born on Wednesday and he hosted a party for his friends the next day. On the way back to their residence at Ballaram Nagar, one of the five persons fell into a pothole after which they rushed to a handpump on the banks of the canal near joggers’ park to clean themselves.
The aggrieved kin of the victim said as the incident happened when they were cleaning themselves. Sirhind Canal is flowing to full capacity due to the peak season of rice and cotton cultivation.
Rishu’s maternal Devinder Shukla said he along with others managed to rescue only three.
“Soon after the incident, we received a telephone call informing us about the incident. We rushed to the spot as it is near to our locality. My sons Rahul and Vivek and their friend Soni Thakur were saved after much effort. But we could not spot Paras and Rishu due to the dark and high currents,” Shukla said.
