Baramulla: Three laborers were swept away in the River Jhelum when they were busy dismantling an old bridge in Mohura Uri, while two boys drowned in a stream in Mundji area of Sopore on Sunday.
Witnesses said the labourers were demolishing an old bridge when one of its portions collapsed and they fell into the gushing waters of Jhelum at Mohura, Uri.
The three drowned labourers, who are feared dead, have been identified as Shakeel Ahmad Mir, son of Sayeedullah Mir of Kupwara; Bilal Ahmad Reshi, son of Abdul Ahad Reshi of Arizal Budgam; and Mohammad Aslam Chauhan of Anantnag.
Soon after the incident, a rescue operation was launched by police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), army and civil administration together with local volunteers, a police official said. The rescue operation was underway to retrieve the bodies from the river when this report was written.
Police said the bridge was auctioned by authorities earlier and was being dismantled by a private agency which had hired labourers for it.
In another incident in the Mundaji area of Sopore, two minor boys slipped and fell into a stream. Of them one died while another was saved, reports said.
