The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday, September 19, said that two boys were rescued out of the five, who were drowned in the sea at Versova Jetty while immersing the Ganesh idol. The search for the remaining three boys is still ongoing. Moreover, the rescue operation is still in progress.
As per reports, the two boys were rescued by the locals and sent to Cooper Hospital, while search and rescue operations by the Mumbai fire brigade for the remaining three is underway.
Taking it to Twitter, BMC stated: "In an unfortunate turn of events, 05 boys who ventured into the sea for Ganesh idol immersion, reportedly drowned at Versova Jetty. 02 boys were rescued by locals and sent to Cooper Hospital while the rescue operation for remaining three is still on by fire brigade."
Beefed up Security by Mumbai Police
Mumbai Police spokesperson and Deputy Commissioner S Chaitanya said that security was beefed up around important stalls. Apart from the police patrolling in those sensitive areas, there was heavy deployment of police at the place of Ganesh Visarjan, three companies of State Reserve Police Force, one company of Central Reserve Police Force, 500 home guards and 275 constables were also deployed.
Immersion procession was not allowed
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the immersion procession was banned. Despite this, a large number of people came to see Ganesh Visarjan. Moreover, even during the fifth-day immersion, many people were seen flouting the COVID-related norms released by the BMC during festivities.