NEW DELHI (TIP): Four Indian students who were studying at a university 200 km from St Petersburg in Russia drowned in Volkhov river after getting caught in strong currents even though they were in waist deep water and sober, reported locals at the site of the accident. A girl student was saved with the help of a life buoy from a passing ship while another boy swam back on his own.
All the five students involved in the accident belonged to Jalgaon district of Maharashtra and were between 18 and 20 years old.
“Indians, young students from polytechnic university, were sober. They just ran into waist-deep water and splashed, laughed, and did not go deep. Now, it is hot, there is a lot of water, the current is strong. At some point, they were swept away by the current closer to the bridge, right under the “Swimming prohibited” sign,” the chief of Novgorod prosecutor’s office, where the incident took place, told the Russian media.
“We, the locals, all know that it is very dangerous to swim near the bridge. There is a strong current, pits, stones, whirlpools. Apparently, they did not know. I didn’t see the moment itself, but those who saw it say that one of them began to drown, a girl. The rest rushed to save her and everyone was carried away by the current,’ she added.
The students were from the Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University located on Volkhov river which was described as a “crazy river’’ by a Russian diplomat.
The MEA said its consulate in St. Petersburg remains in contact with the university and is providing all possible assistance. Local emergency services have so far recovered two dead bodies from the Volkhov river. The search for the remaining two missing students continues.
(Source: PTI)