Ganpati immersion ends; 18 drowning deaths across Maharashtra

At least 18 persons drowned during immersion of Ganesh idols across Maharashtra, police said on Friday.

Immersion processions, which began on 'Anant Chaturdashi' on Thursday, continued into Friday morning in Mumbai, Pune and other big cities.

Incidents of people drowning during immersion were reported from Amravati, Nashik, Thane, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Dhule, Bhandara, Nanded, Ahmednagar, Akola and Satara districts, a police official said.

A total of 18 persons lost their lives, he said.

Four persons drowned in Amravati, three in Ratnagiri, two each in Nashik, Sindhudurg and Satara, one each in Thane, Dhule, Buldhana, Akola and Bhandara.

In neighbouring Thane, Kalpesh Jadhav (15), resident of Kasara, drowned while immersing a Ganpati idol Thursday evening.

 

Four persons drowned on Thursday in the Purna river in Amravati's Watole Shukleshwar village.

In Nashik, two persons drowned, three were rescued while one was missing, police said.

The deceased were identified as Prashant Patil (38), who drowned near Ramkund, a bathing ghat on the banks of the Godavari river, in Nashik city, and Yuvraj Rathod (28), who drowned in a pond at Pahine village near Trimbakeshwar.

Lifeguards and fire brigade jawans rescued three persons near Someshwar waterfall in Nashik.

One Soma Shivanakar drowned in a pond at Dolsar village of Bhandara district.

Chaitnya Shinde (20), a resident of Malkapur, was washed away in the Koyna river at Karad in Satara district.

In Akola, Vicky More (27) was feared drowned during immersion in a water-filled quarry.

Nine people were rescued in Pune from various spots along the banks of Mula and Mutha rivers during immersions.

"Between September 10 and September 12, as many as nine people were rescued at various immersion venues along the Mula and Mutha rivers. Since water was released from the dam during the festival, adequate precautionary measures and security was in place at important points," said Prashant Ranpise, chief of Pune's Fire Brigade.

Ranpise added that no immersion-related death was reported from Pune. Immersion processions in the city ended at 10.30 am on Friday.

The idol of the famous Dagadusheth Halwai Ganpati reached the riverbank at 7.40 am.

In Navi Mumbai, seven people sustained injuries due to a short circuit when wooden top of a Ganesh idol's seat touched electric wires under a bridge.

"The incident happened in Seawoods in Nerul on Thursday. The wood was wet and so conducted current. The injured persons are out of danger," an official said.