A major accident took place in Una district of Himachal Pradesh on Monday. Seven youths who came from Punjab to visit temples in the month of Sawan have died due to drowning in the Gobind Sagar lake. All of them had come down to take bath in the lake and did not know how to swim. Due to lack of understanding of the depth of the lake, suddenly a young man started drowning and others tried to save him by making a chain. But on seeing everyone drowned in the lake.
Divers have retrieved the bodies of the seven from the lake. All of them were residents of Banur in Mohali district.
Two families have lost their two sons each in the accident, while four seemed to be uncle and nephew among themselves. The accident took place on Monday at around 3:45 pm in Kolka of Bangana sub-division, 35 km from the district headquarters. It is being told that 11 youths had reached here riding in four bikes. After the Peernigah of Una, after paying obeisance at the Baba Garibnath temple in Kolka, everyone had to go back via Baba Balak Nath temple and from there via Naina Devi.
Meanwhile, seven youths got down to take a bath in the lake adjacent to the Garibnath temple. Two youths Gurpreet and Raman Kumar sat outside and started watching them. The other two youths Sonu and Krishna Lal started taking selfies near the boat parked a short distance away. One of the youths who got down to take a bath suddenly started drowning. To save it, other youths started trying to make chains. Due to lack of balance, all the youths started drowning one by one. Seeing this, Gurpreet and Raman Kumar sitting on the shore started shouting. Hearing the scream, Sonu and Krishna Lal also ran to the shore. Seeing his friends drowning, Krishna Lal became emotional and he too jumped into the lake. Within a short time, Krishna Lal also started drowning in the lake but Sonu saved him.
Local people also reached the spot after hearing screams but by then it was too late. Local people informed the police about the incident. SDM Bangana Yograj Dhiman, DSP Headquarters Kulwinder Singh, SHO Prem Pal Sharma also reached the spot. SDM called divers from Nangal. The search operation operation started at around 6:00 pm. Divers took out the seven bodies from the lake in about 30 minutes. All the bodies have been identified by his friends Krishan Lal, Gurpreet Singh, Raman Kumar (son Ramesh Kumar) and Sonu. Dhiman told that the bodies have been sent to the regional hospital Una. The relatives have been informed.
