2024-07-02 03:20:02
A newlywed couple was among the members of a family who were washed away in a waterfall behind the Bhushi Dam in Lonavala near Pune while they were out on a picnic on Sunday. While four of them, including three children, died, the couple was rescued and is presently in the hospital, a resident who knows the family that lives in the Sayyad Nagar area of Pune’s Hadapsar said on Monday.
According to the police, the members of the extended family of Ansaris, Khans, and Sayyads, including the couple, went to Lonavala in a hired bus early on Sunday for the picnic. They said as many as 19 members of the family were out on a picnic at the popular tourist destination when the accident took place on Sunday afternoon.
Farooq Inamdar, a former corporator from the Hadapsar area who went to the spot after receiving information about the accident, said the 19 members are a part of the extended family that lives in Sayyad Nagar. Inamdar said a relative, who had travelled from Uttar Pradesh for the family wedding, was also part of the group that travelled to Lonavala.
“I came to know that the couple from Sayyad Nagar that got married on June 22 also went for the trip and got injured in the incident, but their condition is stable. Shahista Ansari, who died in the accident, worked as a domestic help. Parents of the children who lost their lives are into the small business of selling bakery items…,” he added.
A purported video showing a group of people, including those who lost their lives in Lonavala on Sunday, being swept away by the gushing water after intense rainfall in the area is being shared widely on social media.
The Pune Rural police, INS Shivaji, and members of the Shivdurg Mitra Mandal carried out a rescue operation in which the bodies of three victims — identified as Ameena Salman alias Adil Ansari, 13, her sister Umera Salman alias Adil Ansari, 8, and Shahista Ansari, 37, — were traced on Sunday.
As the search operation resumed, the body of Mariya Akil Sayyad, 9, was found on Monday morning, and the police said they are looking for Adnan Sabhahat Ansari, 4, who was swept away.
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