Five drown in Cauvery river

In a tragic case, five youths drowned in the waters of river Cauvery at the tourist locale of Gosai Ghat in Srirangapatna about 120 kms from here on Wednesday evening.

Police said the youths, all aged between 20 and 22 years, met their watery grave after they jumped into the river water flowing along Gosai Ghat, located close to the mausoleum of eighteenth century warrior king Tipu Sultan.

Out of the five deceased, four hailed from Mandya and one from Srirangapatna. The youths had arrived in Srirangapatna in an autorickshaw from Mandya on Tuesday for the annual Urs of Tipu Sultan. After staying overnight in Srirangapatna, they headed to Gosai Ghat on Wednesday.

After playing in the shallow waters of the river for some time, the five youths, who did not know swimming, ventured deeper into the river in a bid to reach the opposite bank by wading through the waters and jumping on the boulders. Unfortunately, all of them were caught in a whirlpool in the middle of the river and were sucked into the waters.

Police said a twelve-year-old boy and a woman, who accompanied the youths, remained on the banks.

The dead bodies were later retrieved with the help of expert divers. The bodies were handed over to the relatives after performing a post-mortem. The deceased have been identified as Rizwan, 22, Yunus, 21, Saleem, 22, Kaleem, 20, all from Mandya, and Jaffer, 22, a native of Srirangapatna.