E-Paper
10-hour ordeal: MP woman swept away by river, falls from rescue boat
A short motorcycle ride of less than an hour turned into a 10-hour ordeal for a 35-year-old woman who fell into the Betwa river in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday at around 8 pm and was finally rescued nearly 20 km away, at around 6 am on Friday.
A short motorcycle ride of less than an hour turned into a 10-hour ordeal for a 35-year-old woman who fell into the Betwa river in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday at around 8 pm and was finally rescued nearly 20 km away, at around 6 am on Friday. During the rescue operation, a failed attempt to pull her out had caused the boat to overturn and sent her back into the water.
Vidisha district collector Umashankar Bhargava identified the woman as Sonam Dangi and said she fell into the river, which is in full spate, after an accident while travelling from her home in Khajuria village to her maternal home in Padaria village — a distance of about 41 kms.
According to police in Vidisha, the motorcycle she was travelling on slipped on the Barighat bridge and Dangi fell into the river.
Bhargava said local administration launched a search operation for Dangi and found her about three hours later stuck between the iron bars of an under-construction bridge in Ganj area, some 4km away.
“The rescue team reached the spot at about 2 am. By then, Dangi had managed to climb on the iron pillar. The rescue operation was delayed by another two-and-a-half hours due excessive water flow in the Betwa river. At around 4.30 am, a boat and five home guard jawans rescued the woman and made her wear a life jacket,” said Bhargava.
However, Bhargava said the boat overturned while bringing her to the river bank. “Before they could reach the river bank, the motor boat overturned due to the strong water current and all the five jawans and the woman fell into in the river,” he said.
Since the jawans were trained swimmers, they managed to swim to the bank but Dangi was swept away, the collector added.
“She, however, managed to catch hold of the log and covered at least 16 km with it. When she reached Rajkheda, the water level decreased as the river got wider. The local residents saw her floating and rescued her with help of a tyre tube at around 6 am in the morning,” Bhargava said.
She was taken to the district hospital where she was found to be suffering from hypothermia and is stated to be out of danger, the DC added.
Sonam’s husband, Kalyan Singh Dangi, said it was a miracle she was saved. “She is strong. We lost hope but she was saved due to her strong determination,” he said.
