Seven men reportedly drowned in the Ganga river in Kanpur on Wednesday while trying to save each other after one of them lost his balance trying to click a selfie.
The mishap took place when the seven youths, most of them in their early twenties, went to the river for a bath following rainfall, the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shalabh Mathur as saying. He added that the incident would be investigated.
Superintendent of Police Sachindra Patel said that the bodies of the seven youths were found after two hours by a team of divers. They were rushed to the Medical College Hospital, where the doctors declared them dead, PTI reported.
"Shivam was clicking a selfie while bathing following which he lost his balance and started drowning in the river. Maqsood tried to save Shivam but he too lost his balance due to the high water level and high current following heavy rainfall," NDTV quoted Patel as saying. He further said that the rest of them jumped one after another to save the others but drowned in the attempt.
Meanwhile, IANS reported that one man, Arjun, who was also at the site escaped unharmed. Arjun was the one who informed the nearest police post about the incident. Rescue operations began after that.
The seven deceased have been identified as Sachin Gupta (21), Bholu Tiwari (20), Rohit (20), Shivam (19), Maqsood (31), Bhola (16) and Satyam (24), according to the NDTV report. Six of them were residents of the Juhi area, while one lived in Colonelganj, the SSP added.
