3 tourists from Mumbai, including 2 women, washed away in Ganga at Rishikesh

A team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), local police and Jal police started a search operation in the river downstream from the site of the suspected drowning but couldn’t find anything int he swollen Ganga river.

Three tourists including two women from Mumbai were washed away in the swift currents of swollen Ganga in Rishikesh on Wednesday, said police.

Ganga’s water level in Rishikesh was high with strong currents and the search team found no trace of the missing tourists from Mumbai. (HT Photo)

Kamal Mohan Singh Bhandari, in charge of Muni-ki-Reti police station in Rishikesh said that a group of five people including three women had come from Mumbai on August 1 and were staying at a hotel near the river in the town.

“Three of them, Malroy Dante, Apoorva Kelkar, and Madhushi Khursange, all aged 21, entered the river for a swim in the afternoon around 2.30 pm. They got washed away in the river’s swift currents that have become stronger due to heavy rainfall upstream since the last few days. Karan Mishra and Nisha Goswami, who were accompanying the victims, informed us about the incident and gave us contact details of the families of their washed away friends. We have informed their families,” he said

Bhandari said a team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), local police and Jal police started a search operation in the river downstream from the site of the suspected drowning. “As the water level is high with strong currents, the search team found no trace of them downstream. The search operation will be resumed on Thursday morning”, he said.

Meanwhile, SDRF fished out the body of an unknown man from a river in Devprayag and handed it over to local police for ascertaining his identity.