One drowns, 3 missing in Yamuna at Geeta Colony

A 35-year-old man died and at least three others were feared to have drowned in the Yamuna near east Delhi’s Geeta Colony area on Monday, said fire and police department officials

A 35-year-old man died and at least three others were feared to have drowned in the Yamuna near east Delhi’s Geeta Colony area on Monday, said fire and police department officials.

Search operations were halted around 10pm on Monday due to darkness and were to resume on Tuesday morning. (ANI)

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) spokesperson Rajender Atwal said a call about four people having drowned near Zero Pusta, Madina Masjid, in Multani Mohalla, was received around 7.20pm.

The victim, identified by a single name, Sonu, was pulled out of the river by fire department rescue teams with the help of local divers by 8.10pm, fire station officer (STO) Deshpal told the fire department room. Sonu was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Three others were still missing with rescue operations put on hold around 10pm because of darkness. They were identified as Sachin, Hemant, and Rajan.

It was not immediately known how the four people fell into the river, the officials said. Police were investigating the how the victims’ backgrounds and how they were related to each other.

“At 9.55pm, STO Deshpal informed us that due to darkness, the search operation was stopped and it will resume on Tuesday morning as per police instructions,” said the DFS spokesperson.

Earlier, speaking to media, Deshpal said, “We got a call that four people had drowned in the Yamuna river... The names of all four are known; the body of one has been recovered. One is named Sonu—his body has been found and sent to the hospital by ambulance.”

“The search for the remaining three is currently underway... Two vehicles have come from our side—one from Geeta Colony and one from Laxmi Nagar. Divers and Delhi Fire Service staff are engaged, and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) have also arrived.”

This comes just nearly two weeks after four minor boys, aged 14-15, drowned in the Yamuna near Hiranki village in outer Delhi’s Alipur area. The water current was suspected to have been too strong for them and they were swept away. It took several days of searching to recover all their bodies.