25 people rescued from truck stranded in Rajasthan river

Tonk (Rajasthan), Aug 7: State divers rescued 25 people stranded on a truck in the middle of a river in Tonk district of Rajasthan on Thursday, an official said.

The truck carrying 25 labourers was caught in the middle of Banas river in Tonk district, 90 km from state capital Jaipur.

These labourers were engaged in mining and transporting bajri (river sand) from the river and had gone to the river bed to collect it.

"Due to a sudden rise in the water level in the Banas river due to continuous rain in the area, these people were caught in the middle of the river. We initially put out a boat to rescue them, but it overturned due to the strong flow of water," Tina Kumar, district collector Tonk, told IANS over telephone.

"We pressed eight divers into service and it took us over 3-4 hours to rescue these people one by one," she said.

"All of the people are now safe," she added.

IANS