Jamshedpur, May 20 (IANS) In a tragic incident, two young men drowned while bathing in Dimna Lake in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur as they ventured into deep waters and could not be saved, officials said.

Their bodies were retrieved on Tuesday afternoon after an intense search by the Civil Defence team.

The deceased have been identified as Nitin Gorai and Pratik Kumar, both residents of the Mango locality in Jamshedpur.

A group of six friends had gone for an outing near Dimna Lake, located under the jurisdiction of the Bodam police station on Monday evening. Around 6 p.m., the group entered the lake to bathe.

While in the water, Nitin and Pratik ventured into deep waters and began to struggle. Despite desperate efforts by their friends to rescue them, the two were swept under the water.

The incident occurred near an island in Kutimakali village, a relatively isolated part of the lake with no nearby habitation. As a result, immediate help could not be summoned.

The families of the missing youths were informed. They reached the spot nearly an hour later. Local authorities were then alerted, and a search operation was launched with their assistance on Monday evening.

However, efforts to locate the bodies remained unsuccessful throughout the night. The search resumed early Tuesday morning with trained divers summoned from the Civil Defence team.

After several hours of combing the waters, the bodies were finally recovered around Tuesday noon.

The scene turned emotional after the bodies were retrieved with outbursts from family members who had gathered at the site.

The police have sent both bodies for post-mortem examinations to MGM Medical College.

The tragic incident adds to a growing toll of water-related deaths in the state. Over the past 40 days, more than 15 youths and children have lost their lives in separate drowning incidents across various water bodies, including dams, rivers, ponds, and reservoirs in Jharkhand.

–IANS

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