18 Dead Across Maharashtra During Ganpati Immersions

At least 18 persons drowned in separate incidents during immersion of Ganesh idols across Maharashtra, police said on Friday.

Immersions, which began on Anant Chaturdashi on Thursday, continued into Friday morning in several parts of Mumbai, Pune and Sangli, officials said.

Drowning incidents were reported in 11 districts comprising Amravati, Nashik, Thane, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Dhule, Bhandara, Nanded, Ahmednagar, Akola and Satara, an official said, adding that 18 persons lost their lives in these.

The deaths include four in Amravati, three in Ratnagiri, two each in Nashik, Sindhudurg and Satara, one each in Thane, Dhule, Buldhana, Akola and Bhandara.

In neighbouring Thane, a 15-year-old boy, identified as Kalpesh Jadhav of Kasara, drowned while immersing a Ganpati idol. The incident took place around 7:30pm on Thursday, an official said.

Bodies of four persons taking part in immersion on Thursday in Purna river in Amravati's Watole Shukleshwar village were fished out, he said. In Nashik, two persons drowned, three were rescued while one was missing, police said.

The deceased were identified as Prashant Patil (38), who drowned near Ramkund, a bathing ghat on the banks of the Godavari river, in Nashik city, and Yuvraj Rathod (28), who drowned in a pond at Pahine village near the temple town of Trimbakeshwar.

Lifeguards and fire brigade jawans rescued three persons near Someshwar waterfall in Nashik. A man identified as Soma Shivanakar drowned in a pond at Dolsar village of Bhandara district, a police official said.

Chaitnya Shinde (20), a resident of Malkapur, was washed away in Koyna river at Karad in Satara district.

In Akola, Vicky More (27) was feared drowned during immersion in a water-filled quarry, an official said, adding that the area had been fenced off but devotees cut the fence to immerse idols.