On Wednesday, August 4, three tourists, including two women, from Mumbai were drowned away by the swirling waters of the Ganga in Rishikesh.
According to the officials, the tourists had gone to bathe in the Ganga when the incident happened. At that time, one of them was first swept away by the strong currents of the river. The other two jumped in to save her but were washed away too.
On August 1, a group of five people including three women had come from Mumbai and were staying at a hotel near the river in the town, said Kamal Mohan Singh Bhandari, in charge of Muni-ki-Reti police station in Rishikesh.
The three tourists, who have washed away, have been identified as Melrai Dante, Madhushree Khursange and Apoorva Kelkar.
A team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), local police and Jal police started a search operation in the river downstream from the site of the suspected drowning, Bhandari added.
He further mentioned that as the water level is high with strong currents, the search team found no trace of them downstream.
However, the search operation will be resumed on Thursday morning, August 5. Thereafter, SDRF found the body of an unknown man from a river in Devprayag. They have handed it over to local police for ascertaining his identity.