July 25, 2013
On July 24, 2013, a youth drowned in Ghaggar River in the morning while five were feared dead. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Panchkula, Ashwin Sheni said that a total of 15 youths had gone to swim. While one of them died, five were missing and nine were rescued.
The joint rescue operation by the district administration and Army continued till late in the evening. The incident happened despite government prohibition on the gathering of more than five people along the river.
According to the police, they were informed about the incident in the afternoon, following which joint rescue efforts were launched and the families of the affected youths were informed. The youth who died has been identified as 19-year-old Shubham Bhalla of Sector 25, Panchkula. He had gone to Burj Kotian in Pinjore to swim along with his friends. Those feared dead are Arjun of Sector 12, Panchkula; Ravinder of Sector 14, Panchkula; Samvit of Sector 11, Panchkula; and Hitesh and Pradeep of sectors 15 and 20. The rescue operation continued late into the evening with senior police and district administration officials supervising the rescue efforts.
Deputy Commissioner S S Phulia said that the rescue staff of the fire and emergency service department and disaster management team of the district administration were pressed into service. Divers from the Kurukshetra Development Board were also called in. By afternoon, nine youths had been rescued from Sector 28 in the city from near Majri Chowk and Burj Kotian.
While the fire and emergency staff of the district had managed to comb some 3-4 km area from Burj Kotian towards Panchkula, searches later continued from the side of the Mubarakpur area of Punjab. Senior police officers said that they had to search some 10-km area and army teams were also deployed at different places for this purpose.
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