Two brothers were among three men swept away in the Yamuna river in Himachal Pradesh’s Paonta Sahib while bathing on Tuesday, officials said.
Amit (23), Kamlesh (22), and his brother Rajneesh (20), all from Gawali village in Sirmaur’s Shillai area, had gone to bathe in the swollen river when the strong currents carried them away in the afternoon, they added.
The youths were reportedly returning home after taking a holy dip in the Ganga at Haridwar with a religious procession of their village deity. After placing the palanquin of the deity for rest in Paonta Sahib, they went to take a dip in the Yamuna, where the tragedy struck.
Officials said when one of them began drowning, the other two jumped in to save him, but all three were swept away by the strong flow of the river.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Gunjit Singh Cheema and Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Paonta Sahib Manvendra Singh Thakur reached the spot with police teams and started a rescue operation.
Divers have been roped in to search for the three men, but they remain missing, the officials said.
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