Youths drown in Yaraganahalli lake

Mandya: Two youths drowned while swimming in Yaraganahalli Lake in Nagamangala taluk late on Sunday evening.After an extensive search operation carried out by police and rescue personnel, the bodies were recovered on Monday morning and later handed over to their families following postmortem.The deceased are Prakash Gowda, 24, and Yashas, 23. Police said the duo entered the lake to swim when they slipped into a deeper stretch of the lake and drowned. The incident came to light after locals noticed motorcycles parked unattended near the lake for a long time and alerted the police. Personnel from the Bindiganavile police station immediately rushed to the spot and launched a search operation.Despite searching for several hours until 9.30 pm on Sunday, rescue teams were unable to locate the youths due to darkness and difficult conditions in the lake. The operation resumed the following morning with the assistance of local swimmers and rescue teams. After prolonged efforts, both bodies were eventually traced a few metres away from the spot where the youths entered the water, police said.District minister N Cheluvarayaswamy visited the site, met the grieving family members and offered his condolences. Bindiganavile police have registered a case and are investigating.