VIJAYAWADA: Three youngsters, who were part of Ganesh immersion procession festivities, drowned in a tank on the outskirts of Vijayawada city in Andhra Pradesh late on Saturday night.
According to the police, a group of youngsters from A Konduru tanda took out a procession of the Lord Ganesh idol installed in their locality for immersion in the nearby tank.
The deceased, identified as Banavatu Gopal Rao, Bhukya Shankar and Bhukya Chanti, could not gauge the depth of the waters in the tank and entered deep inside and drowned even as others watched helplessly.
Expert swimmers and fire services personnel rushed to the spot and undertook rescue operations and retrieved the bodies late in the night.