Four drown while immersing Ganpati idol in Sutlej

Family members of the deceased mourn in Ludhiana. (Source: Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)

Four youths, all in their early 20s, drowned while immersing idol of Lord Ganesha in river Sutlej near Ladhowal Sunday. While three victims have been identified as Sunil Kumar, Vinay Kumar and Kucha Ram,all residents of Islam Ganj, the fourth victim is yet to be identified. All were rushed to a hospital where doctors declared them brought dead.

The Ladhowal police has filed proceedings under Section 174 of CrPC and sent the bodies to the civil hospital for postmortem. Sharing information about the incident, SHO Varinder Pal Singh said that around 200 people had come to the Sutlej river for immersion. The youths while carrying the idol went deep into the water and drowned as they lost their balance. The people who were accompanying them jumped into the water to rescue them, but to no avail. They informed the police after which divers were engaged and a rescue operation was launched. After sometime, the divers managed to fish out the bodies out of the water.

Blaming the administration for the incident, the family members of the deceased later blocked traffic on CMC road and staged a dharna. They protested against the administration for not making any prior arrangements at the banks alloted for immersion.