Mumbai, 7 Sep

At least four persons drowned and 13 were missing after the immersion of idols following the culmination of the Ganesh festival in various districts of Maharashtra, police said on Sunday.

In Pune district's Chakan area, four persons were swept away in different water bodies in three separate incidents, an official said.

Two men were swept away in the Bhama River at Waki Khurd and another one at Shell Pimpalgaon. Another person slipped into a well at Birwadi in Pune rural, he said.

Out of the four, the bodies of two were recovered so far, and a search was on for the other two persons, the official said.

Three people were swept away in a river at Gadegaon in Nanded district. One of them was later rescued, and a search was on for the other two persons, police said.

In Nashik, four persons met with a similar tragedy, and the body of one of them was recovered in Sinnar, they said.

In Jalgaon, three persons got swept away in separate incidents, and efforts were on to trace them, the police said.

Three people got swept away during the idol immersions in Thane district, and the body of one of them has been recovered so far, they said.

In another incident, a man was feared drowned during the immersion in Amravati, according to the police.

Amid the continuous rainfall in various parts of the state, rivers, lakes and other water bodies were swollen, due to which the state disaster response teams and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed, they said.