Clinging to a wooden structure of an immersed idol of goddess Durga saved three persons who were swept away by high tide of the river Hooghly and rescued around 8 km away in the city today, police said.
Mohammed Hasim Ali Naskar (13), Rafiqul Naskar (25) and Mohammed Aman (12) were lifting wooden structures of immersed Durga idols from river water when they were drifted away by high tide.
The wooden structure works as a base on which the clay idol of the goddess is erected. The structures are lifted from water after immersion and reused.
The three were rescued by joint teams of Kolkata Police Disaster Management Group (DMG) and local police stations.
They were swept away from near Bichalighat in Garden Reach area and rescued around 8 km away near Kashi Mitra Ghat and Nimtala Ghat, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
After receiving the information that the three were drifted away by strong upstream current, "we alerted all upstream ghats and a search was launched by River Traffic Police and the DMG," the officer said.
After a three-hour long search, they were found floating clinging to a wooden structure near Kashi Mitra Ghat under the North Port Police Station.
"While police and locals managed to rescue Hasim, the other two drifted away. Teams from the DMG and River Traffic personnel intercepted them near Nimtala Ghat," he said.
"They could have drowned. But they managed to cling to the wooden structure and that saved them. We thank the local people in lending hands in saving them," he said.
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