Trying to save friend, five boys drown in Yamuna

Five youngsters, including a minor, drowned in the Yamuna river near Burari, north-west Delhi, on Sunday evening.

“We got a call at around 5:40 pm about the incident,” a fire brigade official said. “They had gone to bathe in the Yamuna. Among them, one of the youth went into deep waters and got stuck in a pit. The others rushed to his help but unfortunately they also drowned. All their bodies have been recovered.”

The deceased were identified as Golu (21), Govind (20), Banke (18), Vishnu (16) and Gurpreet (21).

“They were residents of Swaroop Nagar and all of them belonged to lower middle class families. We are conducting further investigations,” a local police officer said.

The accident is not one-off, but the authorities haven’t learnt any lessons.

In March, two teenagers drowned while they were taking bath in the river after celebrating Holi.