Picnic turns tragic as 3 friends drown in dam backwaters in Pune district while taking selfie
Police say the incident took place at around 3 pm at the Jadhavwadi dam near Navalakh Umbre village in Maval tehsil of the western Maharashtra district
An outing by a group of friends turned tragic on Friday when three of them drowned in the backwaters of a dam, apparently while trying to click a selfie, in Maval tehsil of Pune district, police said.
Police said the incident took place at around 3 pm at the Jadhavwadi dam near Navalakh Umbre village in Maval tehsil of the western Maharashtra district.
A group of six friends from Bhosari in Pune district had gone to the dam's backwaters for a picnic, and the deceased were identified by police as Ajay Garude, Santosh Edke and Aniket Pawar.
"As per information received from their friends, four group members were trying to click a selfie while standing in knee-deep water. One of them, who was standing at the edge, slipped and fell into deeper water. As all four had their arms around each other's necks, they fell in one after another and started drowning," said an officer from the Talegaon MIDC police station.
A group member, who was standing some distance away, quickly rushed in and managed to pull out one of the four friends from the backwaters, he said.
Local rescue groups, Vanyajeev Rakshak Maval Sanstha and Shivdurg Rescue Group, rushed to the spot along with National Disaster Response Force and local police personnel. They carried out a search operation and retrieved the bodies of the three friends who drowned in the dam.
