Varanasi: At least two Lucknow University (LU) students were drowned in Chunadari waterfall under Ahraura police station in Mirzapur district on Sunday.Their bodies were fished out on Monday. This incident exposed how tourists are putting their lives at risk by entering danger zones of the scenic waterfalls in Mirzapur, despite the deployment of police and PAC to stop them from entering these areas. As the waterfalls become fully charged with water due to the intensifying monsoon and the tourist flow, too, increases massively, officials are exploring ways to isolate areas from where tourists manage to enter danger zones.Mirzapur SP Somen Barma said that the bodies of two Lucknow University students, including Bhanu Maurya (27) and Ankit Dubey (24), were recovered from the deep waters of Chunadari by divers and NDRF personnel on Monday. The bodies were sent for the postmortem examination. Families of the deceased students reached the site, said officials. Maurya, a native of Lakhimpur Khiri and Dubey of Lucknow were MSW students at Lucknow University. They initially reached Lakhaniya Dari waterfall via Varanasi along with their two other friends, including Ayush Gupta of Lucknow and Amit Kumar of Gonda. Later, they reached neighbouring Chunadari on Sunday evening. While picnicking, they started swimming in Chunadari waterfall when Maurya slipped into deep water. In a bid to rescue him, Dubey (24) also slipped into deep water.Their other two friends and tourists present there tried to save them, but their efforts did not yield any result and both disappeared in the deep water. Gupta and Kumar said that as there was no mobile network at Chunadari, they travelled a few kilometres to alert the police about the incident. Upon receiving the information, Ahraura cops reached the spot and called some divers from Chunar. Later, an NDRF team also reached there. However, after sunset, the search was stopped. The search operation started again on Monday morning when their bodies were recovered.The SP said that the district has many waterfalls, including Lakhaniya Dari, Chunadari, Wyndom, Sirsi, Tanda falls and Mukkha falls, which attract tourists in large numbers, especially during the monsoon. The safe and danger zones at each site are demarcated and the deployment of PAC and police is also ensured there to stop tourists from entering danger zones. However, many over-enthusiastic tourists manage to dodge the cops by climbing uphill and reaching the danger zone through forests. In view of the practices by tourists, the police have decided to incorporate forest staff in checking those points through which some tourists manage to enter danger zones, added the SP.
