Jaipur, Aug 11 (IANS): In a tragic incident, at least seven boys of the same family drowned in the Banganga River in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district on Sunday.

SHO Balram Yadav said that the boys are in the age group of 16 to 21 and belong to the Bayana town of the Bharatpur district.

“Eight boys had gone to the river to take a bath. They got stuck inside trenches in the river formed due to illegal mining. However, one boy managed to get hold of a tree branch and was lucky to save himself. He rushed to the village and informed the people,” the SHO said.

He said that villagers along with police officials rushed to the spot however they failed to save any of the victims.

“We were successful in retrieving all the seven bodies. The postmortem of four boys has been carried out while three bodies have been sent to Bharatpur for postmortem,” SHO Yadav said.

He said that due to the heavy rains, the water levels have increased in the rivers and warned people to stay away from rivers and nullahs in the wake of heavy rainfall.

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended on the Bayana town after the news of the death of young boys spread in the area.

Bayana has witnessed heavy rainfall for the last few days. An official said that till Sunday morning the town has recorded 68 mm rainfall.

MeT Department has predicted heavy rains in Bharatpur and other districts till August 17.

The department has also sounded a red alert in places like Sawai Madhopur, Bikaner and Tonk districts while an orange alert has been sounded in Jaipur, Bharatpur, Alwar Sikar and Kota.