2 ITI trainees drown in Pin Parvati river

The bodies of two ITI trainees, who drowned while bathing in the Pin Parvati river at Bihali village near Larji, were recovered today by divers from SDRF and Sunder Nagar. The victims, Dharmender (18) of Murah village and Ghanshyam Singh (18) of Kahara village, both from Balichowki in Mandi district, were training at ITI Thalaut and interning in Larji.

According to reports, three students had gone to the river to bathe, but one refused. When he returned, he found their clothes and shoes on the riverbank, but they were missing. Authorities were alerted, and search operations began immediately.

Despite the involvement of nearly 200 people, including rescue teams, local residents, and Banjar SDM Pankaj Sharma, the bodies remained untraceable until experienced divers recovered them within ten minutes today. Banjar DSP Sher Singh confirmed that postmortems were being conducted before handing the bodies over to their families. Further proceedings are underway.

Meanwhile, locals expressed concerns about rising water levels in the Pin Parvati River. They attributed the increase to water diversion from the Parbati River in Manikaran Valley through a hydroelectric project tunnel. Given the river’s history of devastating floods, residents are urging authorities to implement flood mitigation measures to prevent future tragedies.