Two women, their daughters swept away after car gets stuck in flooded bridge in Rajasthan

Jaipur, Aug 27 (PTI) Two women and their daughters were swept away in the strong currents of a swollen Banas river after their car carrying nine members of the family got stuck at a defunct bridge in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh on Wednesday, an officer said.

Five people in the car survived by climbing on top of the vehicle but four of them had already been carried away by the flood waters before police could rescue them, he said.

The family was returning from a temple in Bhilwara district in the early hours of Wednesday when they were led by Google Maps to the bridge over Banas river that had been closed for months, SP Manish Tripathi said.

All roads crossing the river were closed due to the flood, but the family managed to cross one such closure and reached the defunct Somi-Upreda bridge, where the car got stuck.

They quickly broke the windows and climbed on the roof of the vehicle. One of them called a relative, who informed the police.

Rashmi police station SHO Devendra Singh immediately rushed to the site and arranged a rowing boat and moved upstream towards the car. Locals and police personnel reached the car as they were guided by the stranded family members' phone torches, he said.

By the time they reached, Chanda (21), her daughter Rutvi (6), Mamta (25) and her daughter Khushi (4) had been swept away. Five others were eventually rescued.

The officer said that the dead bodies of two women and a child have been recovered, while the search for the other child is going on.

In a similar incident in Jalore district, six youngsters drowned in the Sukdi river late Tuesday evening. Three bodies have been recovered and a search is underway for the other three, police said.

They had gone in a jeep that was found parked near the river with their clothes, slippers and other belongings, police added. PTI SDA APL APL SKY SKY