Una, August 1
Seven youth from Banur in SAS Nagar district of Punjab died after drowning in the Gobind Sagar lake over the Satluj river in Androuli village of Bangana Sub Division late Monday afternoon.
According to reports, a group of 11 youth had reached Una and paid obeisance at the Pir Nigaha shrine. From here, they proceeded to Baba Balak Nath temple in Hamirpur district. On the way, they stopped at the banks of Gobind Sagar lake in Androuli village and decided to take a swim. All eleven persons descended into the water.
At about 3.50 pm, one of the swimmers appeared to be drowning and two others reached to help him, but failed in their attempt. Other swimmers too joined in the act. However, they all started to drown. Out of the 11, four managed to come out after some time while the rest seven did not.
The services of divers from BBMB were requisitioned to fish out the bodies and all seven bodies were recovered by 7 pm.
According to Additional Superintendent of Police Parveen Dhiman, the deceased have been identified as Pawan Kumar (35), son of Surjit, Raman Kumar (19), son of Lal Chand, Labh Singh (17), son of Lal Chand, Lakhbir Singh (16), son of Ramesh Kumar, Arun Kumar (14) son of Ramesh Kumar, Vishal Kumar (18), son of Basu, and Shiva Kumar (16), son of Avtar Kumar. They were residents of Mira Shah Colony (Bazigar Basti) in Banur.
The four who swam to safety are Krishan Lal (32), Gurpreet Singh (23), Raman Kumar (17) and Sonu Kumar (28). The bodies have been brought to the Una district hospital for a postmortem examination.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has offered condolences to the families of the deceased.
