As Ganpati Visarjan celebrations engulf the city of Mumbai, a man was left fatally injured during a procession in the Sakinaka area. Amid the thousands gathered at the seafront to bid farewell to their deity, six devotees came in contact with a live electric wire on Sunday, September 7. While one died on the spot, five others were rushed to the nearby hospital, the civic bodies revealed.
The unfortunate incident took place on Khairani Road, Sakinaka, where a huge procession was passing through. At around 10:45 AM, a dangling live electrical wire accidentally touched the Ganesh idol. As a result, the 6 people nearby suffered an instant electrocution. With prompt response from locals, the injured were rushed to a private medical facility, and one was taken to the government-run Seven Hills Hospital.
As per a PTI report, doctors at the hospital declared that Binu Sukumaran Kumaran (36) was “brought dead”, the civic official said. The five others injured were identified as Subhanshu Kamat (20), Tushar Gupta (20), Dharmaraj Gupta (49), Karan Kanojia (14), and Anush Gupta (6). They were admitted to the Paramount Hospital, and their condition was reported to be stable, the official said.
4 drown, 13 missing in Pune’s festivities
Meanwhile, during immersion festivities in Pune, several locations reported drowning deaths. Two people were swept away in Pune’s Bhama River at Waki Khurd, and other incidents were reported in Shell Pimpalgaon and rural Pune. Two out of the four bodies have been recovered so far. Similar drowning accidents were reported in Nanded, Sinnar, Jalgaon, and Thane during the Ganpati visarjan processions.
Mumbai’s Ganesh Visarjan celebrations
Every year lakhs of devotees take part in the idol immersion processions across Mumbai. From Chowpatty to Juhu, the city sees several devotees bid adieu to their Ganesh idols, immersing them in the Arabian Sea. Showered with flower petals and vermillion, the entire visarjan process is one of the biggest annual celebrations for the devotees.
The attendees are not just limited to Mumbai; they all arrive from Pune, Nagpur, and Hyderabad to attend the grand celebration to celebrate the arrival of the Lalbaugcha Raja. However, Mumbai has witnessed several such mishaps over the years, with electrocution being a common factor across the years. Drowning deaths have become common, too, over the past five years. It is interesting to note that crowd control has been the least worrying cause of disruption of the celebration, as nearly 30,000 Ganesh idols are immersed peacefully every year.