Three youths drowned in Purna River in Kannad tehsil

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

In a tragic incident, three youths drowned in the Purna River near Shelgaon in Kannad tehsil while swimming at around 4 pm on Wednesday. The deceased have been identified as Awez Naveed Patel (21), Afroz Siraj Pathan (23), and Altaf Raju Patel (19), all residents of Shelgaon.

Police said the three friends went to swim in the river. They entered the water beneath a cement dam but failed to gauge the depth of water and got drowned. It so happened that one of their friends, who arrived at the river later, called his friend, but was surprised when he noticed a mobile phone ringing in the pocket of a pair of pants left on the riverbank. This raised his suspicion, prompting him to inform the villagers and police about the incident. Later on, a few local youths jumped into the river to search for the three and were eventually pulled out, but were later declared dead when admitted at the primary health centre (PHC) in Chincholi Limbaji.

Survivals of deceased

The unfortunate event has cast a pall of gloom over the village. The families of the deceased include Awez, who is survived by his parents and two brothers; Altaf, who is survived by his parents, one brother, and three sisters; and Afroz, who is survived by his parents, one brother, and three sisters.

Post-Mortem on Thursday

Due to the lack of facilities for conducting post-mortems at the PHC at night, the bodies could not be examined immediately. Hence the post-mortem is scheduled to take place on Thursday morning, after which the bodies will be handed over to the relatives, said the police.

Pishore police station has registered a case of accidental death, and further investigations are being carried out under the supervision of Assistant Police Inspector Shivaji Nagwe.