Efforts on to bring bodies back of 4 medical students who drowned in Russia, says Jalgaon Collector

Mumbai: After four Indian medical students drowned in a river near St Petersburg in Russia, the Maharashtra government said that it is in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs and are making efforts to bring the bodies of four students from Russia, who were drowned in the Volkhov River.

The victims, who belonged from Jalgaon, have been identified as Harshal Desale, Jishan Pinjari, Jia Pinjari and Malik Gulamgous Mohammed Yakub. All four were aged between 19-21 and they were in enrolled at the Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University in Veliky Novgorod. 

Jalgaon Collector Ayush Prasad said that efforts are underway to bring the bodies as per the international protocols.

“A very unfortunate incident has come to light in which five students have drowned in a river near St.Petersburg in Russia, of which one student's life has been saved by the authorities in Russia and four students have died. One body has been recovered and search operations for three other bodies are going on. We, with the help of the Ministry of External Affairs, contacted the embassy in Russia and the consular general  office in St. Petersburg,” said Prasad.