Three youths drown in Rapti river in UP's Gorakhpur

Gorakhpur (UP), Apr 18 (PTI) Police on Saturday recovered the bodies of three youths who had drowned in the Rapti River here while taking a bath, officials said.

According to police, on Friday, around 2 pm, four youths went to the river near Mainabhagar Tola Banjaraha. Three of them slipped into deeper waters and began to drown, and the other one swam to safety and reported the incident.

Upon receiving the information, local police reached the spot and launched a search operation with the assistance of divers.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), in a joint operation with the local police, initiated a search operation immediately. Despite efforts continuing until late Friday night, the missing youths could not be located.

Police said that the

search resumed on Saturday morning, during which the SDRF teams intensified their efforts. Within a few hours, the bodies of Shubham Yadav (19), Abhay Yadav alias Bunty (18) and Shiv Sahni (20) were recovered.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the riverbed at that specific location drops off suddenly into deep water; combined with a strong current, this made it extremely difficult for the youths to swim back to safety once they lost their balance, police said.

Superintendent of Police (North) Gyanendra Nath Prasad said that the bodies of the deceased have been sent for post-mortem examination.

He appealed to the public to refrain from bathing in deep and unsafe sections of rivers. PTI COR NAV HIG HIG