Bodies of two boys found after they had drowned during Mumbai idol immersion

The search is on for the third boy

People carry an idol of Lord Ganesha, for immersion on the last day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai.

The bodies of the two boys who had drowned on Sunday night during the Ganesh idol immersion at Versova beach in the western suburbs of Mumbai, Maharashtra, were recovered on Monday. The search for the third boy was going on, said officials.

According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, five boys had ventured into the sea to immerse the idols. The lifeguard and the locals managed to rescue two of the boys, while three were declared missing.

The bodies of Shubham Ranjanlal Nirmal, 18, and Sanjay Hiraman Tawde, 20, were recovered and taken to the hospital, where they were declared brought dead, while the search for the third boy was going on. The flood rescue team used lifebuoys, manilla rope and LED lights for the search operations, while the lifeguard used a ferryboat to search the waters. The Mumbai Fire Brigade said it had also requested the aide of Navy divers.

The condition of the two other boys — Vijay Rohidas Marathe, 18, who was admitted at the Kokilaben Hospital and Shivam Ranjanlal Nirmal,19, who was taken to the HBT Hospital — was said to be stable.

The civic body said the spot where boys had drowned was not a designated immersion spot.

More than 34,000 idols immersed on last day

PTI adds:

A total of 34,452 idols of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Gauri were immersed in waterbodies across Mumbai on the last day of the Ganpati festival held under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic for the second year in a row, civic officials said on Monday.

A BMC official said of the 34,452 idols immersed on Sunday, 13,442 were immersed in artificial lakes which were created across the city to avoid crowding at natural waterbodies.

Out of the total immersed idols, 5,043 were of ‘ sarvajanik ’ (public) mandals, 29,060 household Ganesh idols, and 349 idols of Goddess Gauri.

Among the idols immersed in artificial lakes in Mumbai, 11,387 were household Ganpati idols, 1,890 of public mandals and 165 of Goddess Gauri, the official said.

The famed idol of the ‘ Lalbaug Cha Raja ’ Ganesh mandal in the metropolis was immersed at Girgaon Chowpatty by around 3 p.m. on Sunday, an official earlier said.

The BMC also deployed 715 lifeguards at various natural and artificial immersion sites, he said.

The festival began on September 10 across the State and was celebrated in a low-key manner for the second year in a row in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier, more than 41,000 idols were immersed in various water bodies in the city on the second day of the festival, 66,000 on the fifth day and 15,000 on the seventh day.

The BMC had capped the height of household Ganesh idols to two feet and of public mandals to four feet.