New Delhi

Nine feared drowned in Yamuna

NEW DELHI: At least nine persons were feared drowned during immersion of a Goddess Durga idol into the Yamuna at Burari here on Thursday.

Tragedy struck around noon when some of the 200-odd devotees of the Anand Parbat Durga Puja Samiti were immersing an idol at Khajoori Pushta on the Yamuna bank.

“Despite instructions to keep away from the slippery banks, nearly two dozen devotees ventured deep into the river. They lowered the idol into the water and were performing parikrama around it when the ground under their feet suddenly caved in,” said a senior police officer.

Some panic-stricken devotees raised an alarm and a few even managed to swim to safety.

However, nine persons could not be accounted for and were probably drowned in the river, an eyewitness said.

The victims were residents of a jhuggi-jhonpri cluster in Anand Parbat and were daily-wagers. They have been identified as Aftab, Asif, Pankaj, Rajmal, Raju, Kanhiya, Dileep, Jitender and Sonu.

Initially the Uttar Pradesh police were carrying out rescue operations but the case was later transferred to the Delhi police after it was found that the area fell under the jurisdiction of the latter.

Rescue operations were on till late on Thursday night.

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