Five schoolchildren drown in Betwa river during picnic

Five children of a picnic party drowned on Sunday in Betwa river near the famous Bhojpur Shiva temple, police said.

The deceased, who belonged to Mahrishi Vidya Mandir school, had gone to Bhojpur along with 23 others for a picnic at the world heritage site.

"While there, five of them went to take a bath in the Betwa and were drowned. Efforts are on to recover their bodies," Obaidullaganj Police Station in-charge MS Meena said.

Three of the deceased have been identified as Ujjwal Bhaire, Pratul Gupta and Mohit Neekhra, police said, adding that the remaining two are yet to be identified.

Raisen collector JK Jain and SP Shashikant Shukla reached the spot to supervise the operation to fish out the bodies.