JOIN USFour members of a group of eight were drowned in Yamuna Canal near Alipur village when they had gone there for swim on Saturday afternoon.
All the eight were from a single joint family in Tikri village. The four who survived the incident informed the family and police about it.
After getting the information a team of police, boat club and fire brigade each reached the accident spot and after an effort of three hours managed to fish out all the bodies from the canal.
“The bodies have been preserved for postmortem. Once postmortem is done they will be handed over to their relatives,” said a police officer.
The police have registered a case under section 174 of IPC (suicide). The sections could be changed or new sections could be added after depending on the postmortem report, said the police.
The deceased have been identified as: Ravi, 22, Budh Ram, 19, Amit, 18 and Vikas, 21. All were from a single joint family of village Tikri, said a police officer. The incident happened at 1 pm when a group of eight men went in the canal to beat the heat.
During swimming in the canal, they started competing against each other about who could cross the canal in the shortest possible time.
As the first four of the group reached in the middle of the canal, the fast current of the canal swept them away, leaving the rest of the four to launch a desperate effort to save their brethrens’ lives.
However, the effort of the four who survived the swim couldn’t save the lives of their cousins, as the fast current of the canal took their bodies beyond their reach. The boat club personnel, who entered the canal, retrieved the bodies.
Expert swimmers
In the village a pall of gloom descended upon the family of the deceased. “They were all expert swimmers. We had never thought that they could drown in the canal, as they have grew up swimming in it,” said a relative of the deceased.