india

Updated: Jan 01, 2018 15:31 IST

At least 18 people, including minors, died in separate incidents across the country on the New Year’s Eve and Monday, the police said.

According to officials, five men drowned in the Damodar river in West Bengal on Sunday while on a picnic. The residents of Sripally area in West Burdwan, all 21 years old, were killed after they stepped into the quicksand on the river bed and were sucked into the waters near Burnpur.

“The area where they went for a picnic is not frequented by revellers,” Debasish Banerjee, a local resident and former councillor of Asansol municipality, said.

The police said a ban has been imposed on going into the river in those areas due to strong currents.

In another incident in the eastern state, five people were killed after their car was hit by a truck in Hooghly district while they were returning home from Digha on the New Year’s Eve.

“One person has been taken to a hospital. We have detained the truck and its driver,” HK Pai, sub-divisional police officer of Arambag, said.

Three boys were feared drowned in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district on Monday when a country boat capsized in the Ganga river.

Locals said nine boys, all between 11 and 13, were going to a riverine village across the Ganga for a picnic when the boat sank at Ranjdihpur village in Sabour police station area of Bhagalpur district, 235km east of state capital Patna.

Bhagalpur’s senior superintendent of police Manoj Kumar said six boys were rescued by local divers. Three boys were still missing, he said, adding that personnel of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force have been pressed into service to search for them.

A 24-year-old man under the influence of alcohol crushed four people, including three minors, to death in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district. The incident occurred early on Monday near Indiranagar in Pendlimarri block when the group was sitting around a fire, police said.

The driver of the car was also killed in the accident.

Police said the four people, including the driver, travelling in the car were drunk. One escaped immediately after the crash while two others were arrested.