Five drown while bathing in Damodar, two missing

Two students were feared drowned while taking bath in river Damodar at Galsi in East Midnapore on Sunday.

A total of five students had drowned. Local people had managed to rescue three but two were missing till the last report came in.

The mob had set some vehicles on fire alleging that excessive sand mining had resulted in an increase in the depth of the riverbed which led to the incident.

Police said that five students went to take bath in two different ghats at Galsi in East Midnapore. Some people standing on the river bank suddenly saw the children drowning.

Some local youth jumped into the river and rescued three who knew little swimming. But it was not possible for them to save the two others as they didn't know swimming.

Divers have been engaged in search of the two students and the search operation continued for hours.

A local resident claimed, with excessive mining of sand, it has became unpredictable to assess the depth of the riverbed. The depth suddenly becomes more in some places and those are the death traps.

There are whirlpools at the places where the depth of the riverbed is more all of a sudden. Thus, it is quite impossible for a person to get out of it if he or she falls in it suddenly and doesn't know swimming. "It seems that the same thing has taken place with the two students who are feared drowned," said the local resident.

Hundreds of people gathered at the river bank when the news of five students getting drowned spread. People from local villages gathered there too and it resulted to a law and order trouble as the mob damaged and set some of the vehicles on fire. They also damaged some machinery used for mining sand. The mob went on a rampage protesting against illegal and excessive sand mining from the riverbed.

Policemen from local police station went to the spot. But people obstructed them from reaching the spot as they were demonstrating against illegal sand mining. Later, a large contingent of police went to the spot and brought the situation under control.

The district officials are looking into the allegations and the senior officials have assured the villagers that they would look into their allegations.

It may be mentioned that e-auctioning system has been initiated in the state to check illegal lifting of sand. Introduction of the e-auctioning system and continuous raids by local administration had helped in checking illegal sand mining.