LUCKNOW: Three youths drowned in the strong currents of the Ghaghra river while bathing with two friends in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district on Wednesday afternoon. Villagers managed to rescue two of the five youths, while three were swept away by the river’s strong current near Kodhwa village in the Munsari area under the Hardi police station limits.According to police, the incident took place around 5 pm near Kodhwa-Munsari village when five friends entered the river for bathing. The group included Golu Jaiswal (22), Suraj Jaiswal (19), Mohit Yadav (25), Rajkumar (24) and Shivam Singh (22).Police said the youths accidentally moved into deeper waters while bathing and began drowning in the fast current. Local villagers present nearby immediately launched a rescue effort and managed to pull Rajkumar, a resident of Madhav Reti, and Shivam Singh, a resident of Murauwa, to safety.However, Golu Jaiswal, Suraj Jaiswal and Mohit Yadav were swept away by the strong current and went missing.After receiving information, Hardi SHO Alok Singh reached the spot along with police personnel. Teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers were pressed into service to carry out an extensive search and rescue operation in the river.Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Durga Prasad Tiwari said three youths from the Kotwali Dehat area and two from the Baundi area had gone to bathe in the Ghaghra river when they were caught in the strong current.He said villagers immediately rescued two youths, while three were washed away. “Police teams, SDRF personnel and local divers jointly launched rescue operations soon after the information was received,” he said.The officer added that during the rescue operation, the body of one youth was recovered from the river and sent for postmortem examination after completion of legal formalities. Search operations for the remaining two missing youths continued till late evening.Family members of the missing youths were informed about the incident. Heavy police deployment remained at the site and officials said the situation was under control.
