The banks of the Tawi River in the Nagrota area of Jammu and Kashmir wore a different look on Tuesday morning. Where children, who belonged to displaced Kashmiri Pandit families, had splashed and laughed two days before, there was now only silence, vigil, and grief.
These ill-fated families are living in the Jagti township, especially set up at Nagrota in the outskirts of Jammu city for displaced families of the Kashmir Valley.
Five teenage friends had slipped away on Sunday afternoon for an innocent swim. By nightfall, three of them had been swallowed by the river's current.
The rescue teams on Tuesday recovered the body of a boy, who had drowned along with two others after being swept away by a strong current in the Tawi River near Nagrota Sainik School on the outskirts of Jammu.
While the bodies of two boys were recovered on Monday, the third body was recovered on Tuesday. The body was found about half a kilometre downstream from the incident site, a police officer said.
Three teenagers identified as Bavish Koul (15), Sonam Dutt (16) and Aditya Pandit (15), all belonging to the Kashmiri Pandit community, were washed away by the strong current of the river on Sunday.
The bodies have been shifted to the Government Medical College hospital in Jammu for a postmortem.
Initial reports said that the boys were playing volleyball on the riverbank before they entered the water to take a bath and were subsequently swept away by the strong current.
A Night of Sleepless Vigil
From the moment the boys disappeared Sunday evening, their families kept watch through the night—some at the riverbank, others at home, all of them held together by a single, fragile thread of hope. Eyes red and swollen, they stared at the dark, rushing water, willing it to give their children back.
Rescue teams from the police, NDRF, and SDRF arrived swiftly and worked through the darkness with torchlight and determination.
Shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Monday, divers made their first grim discovery. The body of 16-year-old Bavish Kaul was recovered from the riverbed, trapped in silt at a depth of 16 feet. The family had barely absorbed the blow when, less than ten minutes later, the body of Aditya Pandit was found nearby—at the same depth, in the same unforgiving current.
Deeply saddened by the passing of Bhavish Koul, Sonam Dutt, & Aditya Pandit from Jagti due to drowning in River Tawi near Dhok Waziran. May their noble souls attain peace ? I extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and well wishers. May God grant their loved… pic.twitter.com/BudwAQJi2V
— Devyani Rana (@devyanidsrana) March 31, 2026
This morning, the body of Sonam Dutt was also recovered from the river Tawi.
As the bodies were brought to shore, the cries of the boys' mothers cut through the afternoon air. Fathers stood motionless, as though the news had turned them to stone. There was not a dry eye among the hundreds who had gathered on the bank.
LG, CM express anguish over tragedy
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha expressed deep anguish and grief over the tragic loss of young lives in an unfortunate drowning incident in the River Tawi at Nagrota.
He also spoke to the senior officials and took stock of the ongoing search and rescue operations.
"The loss of young lives is heart-wrenching. My deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families. We stand in solidarity with them during this difficult time," the Lieutenant Governor said.
Chief Minister expressed profound sorrow over the tragic drowning of three young boys at Jagti, Nagrota. He conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for strength and solace for them in this hour of grief.
— Office of Chief Minister, J&K (@CM_JnK) March 30, 2026
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed sorrow over the loss of lives in the incident and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families. In a post on X, he also prayed for strength and solace for the affected families in this hour of grief.
