2 girls swept away while taking bath

Kolkata: Two teenage girls who went to take a bath in the Ganges at Nimtita area under Samsergunge police station in Murshidabad were swept away by the current on Sunday morning.

According to the police, the victims were cousins who went to take a bath with their aunt who tried to save the victims by throwing a piece of cloth but failed to do so as a strong current had quickly swept them away. The victims were Payel Rai (18) and Debjani Rai (15). Payel was a student of Class XII from Nimtita GD High School while Debjani was a student of Class IX from the same school. According to the police, one of the victims first was swept by the current while taking a bath. The other girl had a similar fate as she tried to save the former.

Some of the local residents tried to save the victims but were unable to do so as there was a strong current in the water. The victims' aunt who was standing on the bank of the river threw a piece of cloth in the river to save the drowning girls. After being informed, the BSF jawans rushed to the spot as the area is situated in the border areas. Police also reached the spot. A joint force of police and BSF jawans started a rescue operation. The disaster management unit was also called in. After seven hours of the incident, the rescue team was yet to find out the victims as they suspect that they might have swept far away from the place of the incident due to the strong current. Mukesh, Superintendent of Police in Murshidabad said: "Two teenagers swept away in the current when they were taking a bath at around 11 am on Sunday. Rescue operation was on."

In another incident, three students of Class XI were swept away by current in Durgapur barrage when they went there to take a bath. Among the three friends, one swam to the bank while the other two drowned. The three friends Vishal Bagdi, Rohit Sahani and Ranjan Bagdi were taking a bath where there was a strong current. Ranjan managed to make it to the bank while the others could not. The bodies of the two victims were later rescued. A probe has been initiated in both the cases.