Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, May 17: A youth drowned after he was swept away by strong currents while taking a bath in a natural waterfall in Darhal area of Rajouri district, while two others were rescued by the local villagers. Official sources said the body of the deceased was retrieved today, on the second day of the search and rescue operation along the stream near Khodinar village in Darhal area.
The deceased has been identified as Mohammad Maroof (29), son of Mohd Nazir , a resident of Thanamang village in Darhal. He was working in Mumbai and recently came home on leave.
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According to officials, Maroof had gone to take bath in the natural waterfall during noon on Saturday along with his two friends, Mohd Ismail Malik, son of Mohd Khaliq and Mohd Yasir, son of Abdul Rehman, both residents of Thanamang near Darhal. While taking bath, the trio got trapped in the strong water currents.
“Maroof drowned in the incident. Ismail and Yasir, initially attempted to rescue Maroof but later fell unconscious due to hypothermia”, they said.
Some villagers present nearby acted swiftly and managed to pull the duo out of the water before shifting them to a hospital. Maroof remained missing. His associates were also not revealing properly whether he was drowned or was rescued.
Later, local police SDRF men and local villagers started search operation that continued for the second consecutive day on Sunday. Till Saturday evening no trace of the missing youth in the water body could be established.
The joint teams of police, State Disaster Response Force and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, and locals carried out the operation today again and eventually recovered the body from beneath a rock surrounded by strong water currents this afternoon.
The body was retrieved and shifted to a Sub District Hospital Darhal for medico-legal formalities and later handed over to the family for last rites.
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