Hoshangabad/Seoni Malwa: Ganga Dussehra festival turned into a tragedy when five persons drowned in the Narmada in Hoshangabad and Seoni Malwa on Monday.
Reports from Hoshangabad said two passers-by heard the yells of five persons who were being swept away by the currents of the river.
The passers-by informed the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) whose team managed to save a woman, Vaishali Chandraul, who is under treatment in the district hospital.
Fifteen members of a family reached the Ghanabadh Ghat to take a dip on the occasion of Ganga Dussehra.
When Vaishali began to drown five other members of her family tried to save her.
As none of them was good at swimming they lost balance in the water and began to cry for help. Nevertheless, the NDRV team could rescue only Vaishali.
The NDRF team launched a search for other members of the family and the fished out the bodies of Siddhi Chandraul (10), Ayush Chandraul, Aadi Chandraul and Nirmesh Chandraul.
Deputy inspector general of police Arvind Saxena told Free Press that there was no Ghat at the place where they had gone to take a dip. Instead, there is an over bridge near the four-lane road.
Reports from Seoni Malwa said a 22-year-old man from Timrani area drowned Bhiladiya Ghat of the river under Shivpur police station.
Assistant sub-inspector RD Burman told Free Press the man Rahul Jaiswal who slipped in the river at the time of taking bath was swept away by the currents.
Burman said Jaiswal had come to the Ghat with a friend Yogendra.
A large number of people gathered at the Ghat to take a dip in the river to celebrate Ganga Dussehra, but there was no security.
Burman said as the policemen were busy maintaining law and order in the city during the lockdown, they could not be deployed at the Ghats of the river.
