3 SDRF personnel drown in Maharashtra’s Pravara river while rescuing 2 villagers

The SDRF personnel drowned after one of the rescue boats got caught in strong water currents in the Pravara river in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district

On Wednesday, two men from the Sugaon Budruk village in Akole had allegedly drowned while they were swimming in the Pravara river in the afternoon. Representational/Express archive

Three personnel of the state disaster response force (SDRF) died on Thursday after their boat capsized while trying to rescue two men who drowned in the Pravara river in Akole taluka of Ahmednagar district on Wednesday. Search operation is on to find the fourth personnel, who is also feared drowned.

The deceased SDRF personnel have been identified as Nama Shinde, Vaibhav Wagh and Rahul Pawra.

On Wednesday, two men from the Sugaon Budruk village in Akole had allegedly drowned while they were swimming in the Pravara river in the afternoon.

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A search and rescue operation was launched to look for them. A team of the SDRF from Dhule was pressed into service. While the dead body of one of the men was fished out from the river in some time, the search for the other victim continued.

Two boats of the SDRF were carrying out the searches on Thursday morning as well. One of the boats capsized after it got caught in the strong water currents in the river. There were six people in this boat. Of them, three died by drowning and two others, Pankaj Pawar and Ashok Pawar, were rescued.

The bodies of the Shinde, Wagh and Pawra were fished out while a hunt is on for another SDRF personnel, Arjun Jedgule, who is still missing.

When contacted, Rakesh Ola, superintendent of Ahmednagar district police, confirmed the death of the three SDRF personnel during the search operation.

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