JALANDHAR – An uneasy calm prevails at Ranewal in Nawanshahr after news came in last evening about the tragic incident in which four village youths travelling in a Scorpio got washed away in a flash flood near a rafting site near Shimla.
The men from the village have gone to look out for the youths in four vehicles since last night.
The first call in the village reportedly came at 4 pm last evening when survivor Sukhbir Singh called up his father Darshan Singh and apprised him of the incident.
He told his father that it was a split-second reflex action that he and his two other friends Fateh Singh and Kamaljit Singh managed to catch hold of a tree’s branches through the open window of their Scorpio and sprung outside but their four friends — Sharanpreet, Harpreet Singh, Avanjot and Amana — could not come out and the vehicle got washed away. He also apprised that their guide Titu was going in another jeep ahead of them, which too met the same fate.
The villagers showed selfies and videos in which the eight boys seemed to be enjoying the trip. They had clicked and sent these to their families on Whatsapp just an hour before the tragedy. They were seen sitting inside the Scorpio, having tea near a stall along a ‘nullah’ and even performing ‘bhangra’. The victims were either pursuing graduation or were preparing to go abroad by taking IELTS coaching.
Nawanshahr SDM Jeevanjagjot Kaur visited the families and assured them support. “I am in touch with the SDM there (in HP) who told me that the NDRF had been deployed to search the boys. I am told that parts of the Scorpio have been recovered. The three injured boys have been discharged from the hospital there but they are yet to reach home,” she said.
