Thane: Two feared drowned in Ulhas river

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Two persons were feared drowned in a river in Maharashtra's Thane district on Friday, a fire brigade official told news agency PTI.

A search operation has been launched to trace the two, he said.

Around 11.30 am, Salman Purkan Ansari (24) and his friend Sarfaraj Aslam Ansari (28) went to the Ulhas river in Ulhasnagar on the outskirts of Mumbai for a bath, reported PTI.

Sarfaraj jumped into the river for a swim but got swept away due to the strong current. Seeing his friend in trouble, Salman also dived in to save him but he was too got washed away, the official told PTI.

The search to trace both was going on till late in the night, he said.

Earlier, a 17-year-old boy drowned in a water-filled quarry at Virar in Maharashtra's Palghar district while trying to get a ball out of it when he was playing cricket nearby, a fire brigade official told news agency PTI on August 5.

The incident occurred on August 3 evening, he said.

"The boy, identified as Yash Solkar, tried to get the ball that fell into the water-filled quarry out of it when he was playing a game of cricket on August 3 evening. However, he drowned in the water body," the official told PTI.

The fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot after being alerted, but could not trace him, he said.

Later, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was called in. Its personnel managed to recover the victim's body, he added.

The body was later sent for post-mortem to a government hospital and an accidental death report was filed, another official told PTI.

In another incident, A 19-year-old man was feared drowned in a dam in Maharashtra's Thane city, civic officials said on July 27, reported PTI.

The man went to the small dam, located in Ovla area, at around 6.30 pm on July 26 with his friends. While his friends ventured into the reservoir for a swim, he stayed out but he slipped and fell into water, Thane Municipal Corporation's disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said.

After being alerted, local firemen and the disaster management cell team rushed to the spot and searched for the man, but he was not traced, the official said. The search operation was called off for the day late Wednesday night and resumed on Thursday morning, the official said.

The police were conducting a probe into the incident and trying to find out how the man fell into the water.

(With inputs from PTI)