28 bodies of drowned pilgrims recovered in MP

Datia, Madhya Pradesh, Oct 2 (UNI) Twenty-eight bodies have been fished out so far after a group pilgrims was swept away in Sindh river in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh yesterday, Gwalior division Commissioner Komal Singh said today ''Relief and rescue teams have recovered 28 bodies thus far out of which 16 had been identified,'' he said.

However, unconfirmed reports claimed that 33 bodies were recovered so far out of which 20 had been identified.

At least 40 pilgrims, going for a 'darshan' to Mata Mandir in Ratangarh on the occasion of Durga Navmi, were swept away at 0830 hrs yesterday while crossing the Sindh river on feet due to the sudden release of water from nearby Manikheda dam allegedly without prior information, police sources said.

The current of the river was so strong that the pilgrims were swept away up to three Km. Rescue teams recovered bodies from Dongarpur and Berchha villages.

The post-mortem of the bodies was conducted on the spot and handed over to relatives.

State Panchayat and Public Relations Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today visited the site and assessed relief operations. He said Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced ex-gratia of Rs one lakh each to the next of kin. The affected families were being provided Rs 50,000 each immediately.

Mr Tomar was accompanied by Dr Komal Singh and IG (Chambal range) Vijay Yadav.

The deceased were identified as Bhuri, Kanchan, Kamla, Pawan, Anita, Lakshmi, Mathura, Rani, Jagram, Mohni, Phula, Mahadevi, Sapna, Lokendra Singh, Raghvendra Singh, Lalla, Anita, Preeti, Devandra Kumar and Satish Gupta.

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