nFour people, including two women, were drowned during Ganesh idol immersion in Yamuna River near national Capital's Palla Bakhtawarpur village on Thursday night.

The deceased have been identified as Umesh yadav (20), Priyanka (20), Pinki (21) and Nikit (21), all residents of Nihal Vihar, Nangloi.

According to a senior DFS official, a call regarding the drowning incident was received at 8.58 pm on Thursday following which one fire tender was rushed to the spot and the rescue operation was initiated.

"The bodies of two men and two women were recovered on early hours of Friday near Alipur's Palla Bakhtawarpur village," said the senior DFS official.

Meanwhile a senior police official said that a police control room (PCR) call was received at 9.02 pm on Thursday that four persons have drowned in Yamuna near Thoker number 17.

"The caller informed that a group of eight people was having bathe on the bank of river Yamuna. They went towards deeper water, police said, adding that four of them managed to return to the bank but the other four persons drowned. Acting on the call Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) was dispatched for the spot," said Gaurav Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Outer North district.

"It was found that a group of around 30 people had performed the Ganesh Pooja at their house and later, somebody among them suggested that they must now take bathe in the Yamuna River following which they moved towards 'Thoker number 17', said the DCP.

"However, they were stopped at Shani Mandir and Bakhtawar Pur and advised by civil defence and the police staff to avoid bathe. The group had initially agreed to the requests but eventually, eight of them did enter the river and four of them drowned," said the DCP.