Reyaz Rashid
Baramulla: At least three laborers were swept away in the river Jhelum when they were busy in dismantling an old bridge in Mohura Uri while two boys drowned in a stream in Mundji Sopore area in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Sunday.
Witnesses said the labourers were working in the demolition operation of an old bridge when one of its portions collapsed and they fell into the gushing waters of the river Jehlum at Mohura Uri.
The three drowned labourers who are feared dead have been as Shakeel Ahmad Mir son of Sayeed-ullah Mir of Kupwara, Bilal Ahmad Reshi son of Abdul Ahad Reshi of Arizal Budgam; and Mohammad Aslam Chauhan of Anantnag.
Soon after the incident a rescue operation was launched by Police, Army and Civil administration besides joined by local volunteers, a police official said.Police said the bridge was auctioned by authorities earlier and was being dismantled by the contracting agency.
The rescue operation was underway by rescue teams of police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) to retrieve the bodies from the river.In another tragic incident in Mundaji area of Sopore, two minor boys slipped and fell into a nallah while on their way to a mosque for an Islamic function. One boy died while another was boy has been rescued but the search for the other is ongoing.
An official said two boys from Mundaji Sopore, who were on their way to a mosque to attend a congregation, slipped into a rivulet, flowing through the area.With prompt rescue operation, the duo was immediately evacuated from the rivulet. One Saqib Mushtaq, retrieved under unconscious condition, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
The two drowned Areeb Bashir Mir son of Bashir Ahmad Mir of Mundji while Sabiq Mushtaq son of Mushtaq Ahmad Mir of Mundji is yet to be fished out. Confirming the death of the boy, a police official said that the boy had already lost his breath when he was brought to the hospital.