Lucknow, 21 December: Two persons were feared drowned, while two others were rescued when a car at a breakneck speed plunged into Gomti River Front near Samta Mulak crossing bridge on Tuesday night. Four persons including a woman and a dog were in the car when it fell into river in darkness.
The accident occurred when they were on way to Mahanagar Paper Mill Colony. Meanwhile, the driver and a young man while drowining were pulled out with a rope by some boys walking on the riverfront. At the same time, a hectic search for the woman and her partner continued till late night, but could not be found.
The car was pulled out through a crane, in which the dog’s dead body was found. The duo who drowned have been identified as Meena Kumari and Rahul alias Mannu Yadav – both residents of Mirzapur, while Abhishek, who escaped, is a resident of Vikasnagar, Lucknow, Dushyant is from Sitapur.
On receiving the news of the accident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued instructions to the police and administration officials to carry out relief work.
According to JCP Law and Order Piyush Mordia, four people came by car on the river front on the way to Pepper Mill from Samta Mulak intersection at around 10 pm. The speeding car fell into the Gomti river. Due to which a pet dog was also trapped inside along with four people. Abhishek Dubey and Dushyant somehow got out of the car in the accident, however, Meena and Rahul could not come out.
Hearing the noise, nearby people tried to save them. SDRF divers along with the police team reached and tried to trace Meena and Rahul who were drowned in the river but both could not be traced till late night.
Meanwhile, NDRF and SDRF are still searching two drowned people including a woman.
According to paper mill residents Sameer Khan, Rajesh and Rupesh, they were walking near the river front. After a loud noise, they heard screams of some people. Sameer ran to a house and came came to the spot with a rope. Abhishek and Dushyant were taken out with the help of friends Rajesh and Rupesh.
According to Sameer, we could not save a woman and a youth in the car. Abhishek, who was saved, told the police that he had gone for a walk with friends on Tuesday night. On reaching near the river front, they started taking Rocky (pet dog) for a walk. They were returning home sitting in the car at around ten o’clock in the night. That’s when this accident happened. Police said, the SDRF team has taken out the car from the river. There was only the dead body of the dog in it.
According to the police, missing Meena Kumari runs a beauty parlour named Hitech Salon in Vikasnagar. Abhishek works with him. These people had gone out with dog for walk as usual.
