Two BTech second year students of the prestigious Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT)-Allahabad are feared to have drowned in the Ganga at a ghat near Koteshwar Mahadev Temple under Shivkuti police station area of the city on Thursday morning.
The duo had gone to take a dip in the river along with a few friends when the incident took place. Until evening, the victims identified as Vikas Maurya, 21, and Deependra Singh, 22, were yet to be found, police said.
Students of BTech second year at MNNIT, Vikas Maurya of Mau, Deependra Singh of Alwar, Rajasthan and their three friends identified as Bhupendra, Varun and Yash had gone to take a dip in the Ganga on Thursday morning at around 6am.
Police said that Bhupendra, Varun and Yash took a dip and came out followed by Deependra and Vikas.
The three students informed police that Vikas and Deependra started moving towards the deeper end of the river despite their warnings. Suddenly one of them started drowning and the other tried to rescue him. However, both were swept away by swift water current.
Three others, Bhupendra, Varun and Yash, assumed that the duo might have stumbled upon some sand island and were safe and they kept searching and waiting for them for around two hours. Later they informed the locals when the duo did not return. Shivkuti police also reached the spot after receiving information and engaged divers to search for the students.
{{/usCountry}}Three others, Bhupendra, Varun and Yash, assumed that the duo might have stumbled upon some sand island and were safe and they kept searching and waiting for them for around two hours. Later they informed the locals when the duo did not return. Shivkuti police also reached the spot after receiving information and engaged divers to search for the students.
{{/usCountry}}SHO of Shivkuti police station Manish Kumar Tripathi said Vikas and Deependra were both students of computer science and engineering department of MNNIT and lived in a hostel of the institute.
He said that the institute officials and kin of the victims have been informed about the incident. However, till Thursday evening, MNNIT officials did not issue any statement regarding the incident.