HARIDWAR/MUMBAI: A 21-year-old student from Mumbai who is feared drowned along with two friends in Rishikesh was set to go to UK for higher studies, and was travelling to Uttarakhand for “blessings” at the Kedarnath shrine.
Madhushree Khursange, Melroy Dantes and Apoorva Kelkar were pulled away by strong current of the Ganga in Rishikesh on Wednesday afternoon.
A search for them continued on Thursday. “Three teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police divers searched from Rishikesh to Haridwar as heavy rain hampered the efforts,” said Tapovan police post in-charge Anil Bhatt. The search was called off in the evening but will resume on Friday.
The three were students of a Kandivli (E) college.
Station house officer (Muni-ki-Reti) Kamal Mohan Singh Bhandari told TOI that Khursange, whose father is a businessman, was set to travel to the UK for higher studies.
Family members of the three reached Rishikesh on Thursday. Friends of the students expressed shock and disbelief in Mumbai. Khursange is a health coach and posts on social media about eating right and fitness. She also posted extensively about her weight loss journey. Her posts talk about how she suffered from an ailment which left her obese, but a transformation reduced her weight by 30kg. “Khursange is always positive and her energy rubs off on others. Her transformation is incredible. We call her a survivor,” said a friend.
