By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Four Kanwariyas from Chandigarh were drowned in the Upper Ganga Canal near Jatwara bridge in Haridwar’s Jwalapur area on Friday, police said.
The victims, aged between 16 and 18 years, had collected Ganga water and were on their way back when they stopped near the canal to take bath. One of the boys slipped into a deep pit and began drowning. His three companions jumped in to rescue him but were also trapped in the deep water and went missing.
Soon, police launched a search operation and recovered all four bodies from the canal. The bodies were later sent to the district hospital for post-mortem examination.
The deceased were identified as Shivanshu (16), Nitesh (17) and Bharat (17) and Rohit Prajapati (18), all residents of Chandigarh.
In a separate incident, two Kanwariyas were rescued by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) after they were swept away by the strong current of the Ganga at Kangra Ghat in Haridwar. They were identified as Sudhish Thakur (18) and Rahul (28) from Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district.
The annual Kanwar Yatra began on Thursday amid heavy rains in Uttarakhand, with the Ganga flowing near danger level. Police have appealed to kanwariayas to bathe only at designated safe ghats and avoid entering deep water or the main river channel to prevent such accidents.