SIX persons, including a 10-year-old boy, drowned when their Mahindra Scorpio SUV was swept away in a flooded nullah due to strong rain-water current on the bridge near Chhatrapur, a few kilometres from Nandagomukh, in Saoner taluka Tuesday afternoon.

A team of Kelwad Police and local divers retrieved the bodies of a senior citizen and two women.

The deceased, whose bodies were retrieved have been identified as Roshni Narendra Chowkikar (32), a resident of Zingabai Takli, Nagpur, Madhukar Patil (65), a resident of Datora, taluka Multai, district Betul, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Nimu Aathner (45), a resident of Jamgaon, Multai, MP.

Using inflatable motor boats, a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were searching for the bodies of Leeladhar Hiwre (38), Darsh Narendra Chowkikar (10), both residents of Zingabai Takli and Nirmala Madhukar Patil (60), a resident of Datora, Multai, district Betul (MP).

The tragedy occurred when the deceased were returning to their native place after attending wedding ceremony of the daughter of Suresh Dhole at Chhatrapur near Nandagomukh in the district.

At around 3 pm, Leeladhar Hiwre, who was driving the Mahindra Scorpio SUV (MH-31/CP-0299), tried to cross the overflowing bridge on Chhatrapur-Nandagomukh Road. Suddenly, he lost control of the vehicle and it was swept away in the swollen nullah.

With occupants screaming inside, the vehicle bizarrely got stuck between the two submerged trees a kilometre away from the bridge. Villagers gathered on both sides of the nullah. Some local divers quickly jumped into the nullah to rescue the people trapped inside the vehicle. Some villagers tried to pull the ill- fated Scorpio from the deep waters by tying ropes to it. Vijaykumar Magar, Superintendent of Police (Nagpur Rural) also visited the spot to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the tragedy. A senior officer of Nagpur (Rural) Police said, “Local divers retrieved three bodies from the submerged vehicle while search for three others by NDRF team is on.”