Four feared dead as SUV falls in Ganga canal

Four people are feared to have drowned after the SUV they were travelling in fell into the Ganga canal near Didouli village bridge in Murad Nagar police station area here.

The accident took place on Saturday night at around 11:45 PM when the over speeding SUV in which four male and two female students were travelling from Dehradun to Delhi fell into the Ganga canal, police said.

Two of the six students -- Harshit, a resident of Kokda village and Anmol Deshwal -- both students of class 12 in Muzaffarnagar, swam out of the canal while the four others are feared to have drowned as their bodies have not been found yet,police said.

Superintendent of Police (rural area) Neeraj Kumar Jadaun told PTI that at the time of the incident, Murad Nagar police was already present on the spot due another accident.The police team immediately summoned the NDRF team for rescue operation, he said.

The vehicle was dragged out of the canal at around 2.30 am, the officer said, adding that theremaining four people -- Nishant Chaudhary, Muzaffarnagar resident Himanshu Chaudhary, Shristi Joshi and Uttarakhand University, Dehradun, student Kanika Bindal were washed away in the water moving with a powerful current.

Nishant Chaudhary, employed in UP's agriculture department, was driving the car and lost his balance due to which the vehicle fell in the canal, Jadaun said.

"The NDRF team conducted rescue operation at around 1.30 am on the intervening night of February 1-2. The vehicle was dragged out but the drowned bodies even after a marathon search could not be traced till Monday evening.Search operation may continue Tuesday also," Public Relations Officer of NDRF Vasant Pavde said.