Two engg students drown in Shirwata dam backwaters

Pune: A weekend outing by six city-based engineering students in Maval taluka ended in tragedy on Sunday after two students drowned in the backwaters of the Shirwata dam near Lonavla.The deceased were identified as Arya Bandawar (20), a native of Gondia, and Karan Thombare (20) from Satara. Both were second-year engineering students studying at a private college in Mulshi taluka.According to the Kamshet police, the group comprising four female students and two male students had initially planned a trek to Rajmachi fort. They left Pune on three two-wheelers around 7am and reached the area near Rajmachi by noon. “After reaching there, they changed their plan and went to the backwaters of the Shirwata dam around 12pm,” an officer from Kamshet police station said.Police said all six students entered the water. Bandawar and another female student walked further into the reservoir when Bandawar suddenly began to drown. “Her classmate raised an alarm and tried to pull her out by holding her hand,” the officer said.Hearing the cries for help, Thombare rushed into the deeper section of the water in an attempt to rescue them. “He did not know how to swim either, and both of them unfortunately drowned,” the officer added.The remaining students alerted the police control room and sought help from locals. Rescue teams from Wanyajeev Rakshak, Maval, and Shivdurga Mitra, Lonavla, reached the spot soon after. “Locals pulled the duo out and rushed them to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival,” the officer said.