Nagpur: Bela cops rescue man from a tree in swollen Nand river

NAGPUR: A man in his 50s clung to a branch of a teak tree for around three hours to avoid getting swept away by strong currents of Nand river before Bela police of Nagpur district rural and local divers rescued him on Tuesday.
The man, identified as Chinmay Biswas hailing from Umred in Nagpur district. He got himself into trouble after ignoring warning from cops about not to cross a small bridge on the river whose water level had risen after heavy rain and opening of the gates of Nand reservoir and Shedeshwar dam.
It’s learnt, Biswas had gone to Pipla village in Nagpur district for some work on his bike on Tuesday morning.He was warned by cops on bandobast duty while returning around noon.
After waiting for some time, Biswas tried to cross the bridge on foot when cops had gone to the other side to remove people from a spot where the flood water was fast entering.
While crossing the bridge, the river water swept him away. Biswas was on the verge of drowning when he managed to grab a tree branch. With water level rising and the tree swaying hard, Biswas started shouting for help.
On getting alert, assistant inspector Pankaj Waghode, in-charge of Bela police station, rushed to the spot with his team. Waghode said he immediately asked the engineers of the dam and reservoirs to close the gates. “Else, the tree would have either got submerged or the branch would have broken off,” said Waghode.
Waghode said the first challenge was to reach the place. “There is Sawangi bridge on the way which was flooded. As the police jeep would not have been able to cross it, we requested an acquaintance, Chetan Bhoyar, to bring his tractor. Bhoyar drove into almost five feet deep water. The tractor nearly overturned on a couple of occasions,” he said.
The cop said he sent another team under police patil (police warden) Chandrakant Raut from another side. “Long ropes, rubber rings and life jackets were hurled towards Biswas who was trembling with fear. We kept egging him on to hold onto his nerves,” said Waghode adding that expert divers and swimmers rushed towards Biswas in life jackets.
“It was a battle between men and nature to save a brother. The khaki uniform motivated us to fight like commandos and be ready to even die,” said the API. SP Rakesh Ola, addl SP Rahul Maknikar and DySP (home) Sanjay Purandhare appreciated the efforts of Waghaode and his team.
Waghode said Biswas was brought down from the tree and pulled to safety before being administered first aid. “The drama continued for three hours before coming to an end,” said the API.