Vadodara: 2 kids fall into river as bike slips off flooded causeway; presence of crocodiles hampers search operations

The incident took place in Padra taluka’s Kotna village when Hitesh Padhiyar, his wife Vaishali and two children, Devendra (5) and Sohan (3), were returning to their home in Kotna from Aalva village in Waghodia taluka.

According to officials of the Vadu police station, the motorcycle slipped off the causeway after Hitesh lost balance due to the water flowing over the structure, causing the family to fall into the river.

On Monday morning, teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) joined the Karjan fire department and local swimmers, who have been looking for the children since late Sunday evening. Officials of the Vadu police station in Padra taluka as well as the Executive Magistrate are present at the spot to oversee the rescue operations.

Alpesh Gohil, a member of the Kotna gram panchayat, said that the family was returning from Vaishali’s maternal home when they attempted to cross the causeway, which was a “usual occurrence” for the residents. “The residents frequently travel over the causeway even when it is slightly flooded. However, because the water level increased in the river following the recent rainfall, the causeway has been witnessing a heavy flow of water… It caused Hitesh’s motorcycle to slip and the family fell into the river. We were able to spot and pull out the couple but the children had already been swept away by then,” said Gohil.

Residents deployed a boat to attempt to rescue the children but the infestation of crocodiles prevented the search operations on Sunday, also leading to fear that the two children could have been preyed upon by the crocodiles, said Gohil. “There were too many crocodiles at the same spot and we could not attempt to venture further into the river to find the children… We tried for a few hours on Sunday but we had to finally withdraw the boat as the crocodiles remained (present at the spot)… We can only hope that the body of the two children will be retrieved… There should be increased security and more awareness about this risk now,” Gohil added.

Vadodara District Superintendent of Police Sushil Agrawal told The Indian Express, “Our efforts are on to find the two children. Yesterday, the teams were able to rescue the father and the mother… The river is infested with crocodiles and we had difficulty in mounting the rescue boats deployed to find the two children.”

Hitesh and Vaishali, meanwhile, have been admitted to a local hospital in Vadu for treatment.