Six members of an extended family drowned trying to rescue a teenager who slipped while taking a selfie in a waterfall in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh over the weekend.
The tragedy took place when the family from the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh state had gone on a picnic to the Ramdaha waterfall on Sunday.
Shraddha, 14, along with Shweta Singh, 22, ventured into the water to take a selfie but the teenager lost her footing.
Soon, three others – their brother Himanshu Singh, cousin Rishabh Singh and his wife Sulekha Singh – jumped into the water holding hands in their desperate attempt to rescue the sisters. They were quickly joined by two other members Abhay Singh and Ratnesh Singh who also plunged into the water.
Witnesses who saw the family members drown alerted officials.
A rescue operation involving the State Disaster Response Force, Home Guard, police and local divers was launched and initially, two of the seven people were traced and shifted to a hospital. One of them was declared dead at the hospital while the other – Sulekha – was out of danger.
Two more bodies were also traced but the operation was halted on Sunday night. Three other members of the family were found dead on Monday, Korea district collector Kuldeep Sharma said.
The Sun reported that Sulekha was undergoing treatment in the hospital.
The tragedy took place less than six months after three young men, also from Madhya Pradesh, drowned in a waterfall, located some 300 km from the Chhattisgarh capital of Raipur.
A police official said the tourists went into the deep waters despite a caution board placed at the spot requesting people not to venture into the waterfall.
Waterfalls across India attract a large number of tourists during monsoons when rivers and smaller streams come back to life after going almost dry during the spring.
