3 Drown While Crossing Madhya Pradesh River On Way To Temple, 5 Missing

Two persons drowned and five went missing in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district while crossing the Chambal river on their way to a temple in Rajasthan on Saturday morning, officials said.

The rescuers fished out three bodies from the river, but one of them remained unidentified and as per the survivors was not a part of their group of 17.

"Two bodies have been identified. Another could not be identified,” Morena district collector Ankit Asthana told PTI in the evening.

The incident took place around 7 am when a group of 17 devotees from MP's Shivpuri district, heading for a temple fair in the neighbouring state, was crossing the river on foot thinking that water was shallow, a police officer said.

They were swept away by a strong current of water but ten of them swam to safety, said inspector Dharmendra Malviya of Tentra police station in Morena district.

Seven of the survivors reached the river bank on the Rajasthan side and three reached the MP side.

Two persons from the group -- Devkinandan (50) and Kallo Bai, a woman (45) -- drowned, while five others were still missing.

The rescuers also found another body which could not be identified as its face had been badly damaged, possibly bitten by crocodiles, officials said.

Cheyun Kushwaha, one of the survivors, told reporters that this person did not belong to their group.

Rukmani (24), Luvkush Singh (12), Brajmohan (17), Alopa Bai (45) and Rashmi (19) were missing and search was on for them till late in the evening, inspector Malviya said.

All of them were from Chilwada village, about 22 km from Shivpuri district headquarters, and heading for Kaila Devi Mandir in neighbouring Karauli district of Rajasthan.

Police and rescuers from Rajasthan too were looking for the missing persons, officials said.

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