Five people including four children and a woman drowned in a water body near Bhushi Dam in Lonavla on Sunday afternoon, local police confirmed. While the authorities recovered the bodies of three individuals, search operations were halted following heavy downpours and limited light at the Bhushi Dam area. As per police information, the deceased were identified as Sahista Liyaqat Ansari (36), Amima Adil Ansari (13), Umera alias Salman Adil Ansari (8), and search for missing Adnan Shabat Ansari (4), and Mariya Ansari (9) will resume on Monday morning.
On Sunday, family members of Liyaqat Ansari and Yunus Khan from Hadapsar, Pune planned a visit to Bhushi Dam. At around 3 pm, 17-18 family members reached the waterfall behind Bhushi Dam. Due to the sudden rise in water levels due to incessant rain, 10 family members were trapped in the water streams and started drowning. However, five of them managed to escape the water stream, while five went missing.
Considering the gravity of the situation, local police, fire brigade services, Shivdurg Mitra Mandal, Apada Mitra Maval and Vanya Jiv Rakshan Santha rushed to the spot and initiated a search operation. By the end of the day, authorities recovered three dead bodies and sent them for the post-.
After the onset of the monsoon in the area, Police warned tourists to be cautious while visiting Bhushi Dam, Ghubad Talab, Tata Dam, Tungarli Dam, Rajmachi Point, Kunegaon, Kurvande points as the area receives heavy to extreme rainfall.
Commenting on the development, Suhas Jagtap, police inspector at Lonavla city police station said, “We have recovered three dead bodies and search of the other two will resume on Monday morning.”
As per India Meteorological Department (IMD) updates, rainfall activity in the ghat areas in the Pune district has increased significantly. At 163 mm, Lonavala received the highest rainfall on Sunday, June 30.
Commenting about the rescue operation, Pune Rural Superintendent of Police (Rural SP) Pankaj Deshmukh said, “We have recovered the bodies of a 40-year-old woman and two girls. A 9-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy were missing in the incident. It seems they are part of a family and slipped into a waterfall two kilometres away from Bhushi Dam and drowned at the reservoir downstream.”
(With agency inputs)
