Three bodies recovered from Narmada canal

VADODARA: Three bodies were recovered from Narmada canal on Saturday. Only one of the victims have been identified as yet.
Sources said that two bodies were recovered near Khatamba village in Varnama taluka. Preliminary medical reports said that the unidentified bodies are of a 75-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman.
“We believe that the old persons must have fallen into the canal after they supposedly went to fetch water.Since they were old, it must have been difficult for them to swim back to safety. We are carrying out investigations to find out identities of the deceased persons,” said Varnama assistant sub-inspector Mangal Sinh.
Sinh added that they found a bag of grains and various articles belonging to the deceased persons in the vicinity of the incident.
The bodies have been kept in the morgue at SSG Hospital. SSG authorities said their death was caused by drowning. The police will publicize the photographs of the deceased in order to reach out to their kin.
Meanwhile, city fire brigade recovered the body of Jaimin Pandya (16), who studied in standard XI at Baroda High School in Baghikhana.
Pandya along with his friend Akhil Pandey fell into the canal on Thursday evening. The two were accompanied by their friends, Vaibhav Bhojwani and Ishan Trivedi.
The four teenagers were on their way to Pavagadh when they stopped near the canal close to the state highway number 87. Pandya, who went to wash his hands, slipped and fell into the canal. In order to save him, Pandey jumped into the water but he too began drowning. Their friend, Bhojwani too jumped into the canal to save them but he failed to trace the duo.
“We found the body of the teenager 10km from the spot where he fell. We are carrying out further search operations to find the other teenager,” said Nathu Dangi, from the fire brigade.
Later, there were reports of Shivpal Singh (23) of Uttar Pradesh falling into the Narmada canal near Abhilasha Chokdi at Sama. Singh fell into the canal while he was doing fabrication work to place solar panels. Fire department officials said that the search to find Singh is underway.