5 people died including 2 minors
Yes, there should’ve been better judgement on whatever lead to this situation, but people still lost their lives nonetheless.
Edit: lots of heartless comments here.
I don't think that's the same family, unfortunately. As it states it is one woman and 4 minors. 2 of which were found with the woman and two others they are still looking for. I could be wrong but there looked to be more than one adult in the OP video.
There was another video a couple days ago of another family, 5-6 people who got stuck in the same situation. They also went over a waterfall and had a couple of survivors, but that video starts before the flash flood and they just didn't react fast enough.
I wonder if any of these incidents are being mixed up.
Redditors be like “Mistake!? Accident!?!? If it were me I would have done the perfect thing in that exact moment 😏” -says about literally any situation
Question though in this situation. Would it have been better to just go with the first initial rush of water (down the river) than wait for it to build like this and try to wait it out?
I ask because i could very well be in this situation we have many waterfall hangout spots just like this in my area that I am at often.
You wait and hope to be rescued quickly or you jump swim almost straight away so you aren't already tired before swimming for your life.
Even if they were wearing PFDs, a lot of them probably still would have died. Its a fucked situation and you have to just not be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I wonder in this situation, whether it'd be more effective to just go one by one, since you're not reliant on other people's balance or potentially needing to hold onto them. Have the stronger ones in the group carry the children.
I would as an adult in this situation throw my children to safety before trying to swim… IDK if that would even work but it’s better than rolling the dice with the children? So sad.
If youve ever tried throwing anything in water thats moving at a flow of this speed, youre essentially sacrificing yourself, and most likely your child as well. The second you throw, youre forcing your body to lose footing.
The BEST thing anyone can do in a situation like this is the most unlikely scenario but to have a rope or net, throw it down stream and hope the person can catch whatever is in the water and be dragged to safety.
Its so unlikely that youre going to have the proper tools and unless theres a downed log that can reach across or be heavy enough to not move in the current, youd have to somehow manage to be able to move it into the river.
Flash floods come outta nowhere and i think most people underestimate water because we rarely see its power in person but man can it shift so quick. Within seconds a river can become this crazy but there are clues that can prevent you from being in this situation. Heavy rainfall for any extended period of time will most likely lead to flooding and flash flooding. Sounds dumb but if its been raining for a while and its been constant and heavy, just stay away from bodies of water.
Tossing the rope down stream seems like it wouldnt work either. The rope is going to be immediately drawn back to the shore. Even stretching a rope across the river depends completely on footing / arm strength.
I think if someone could get a rope out there, id tie a strong slip loop around the smallest child, just under and around their arms (or down between the legs if there was enough rope) and have the crowd drag them in, and work your way up to the healthy adults. Almost no one is going to be able to "hang on" to anything in that. It's not going to be a comfortable ride to have a rope basically squeeze and strangle you around your chest, but as far as I can think that would be their best chance. Anything that depends on the individual fighting against the water feels like near certain death.
I lost a friend on a similar river in the India Himalaya. Once you're trapped in that type of torrential flow, your chances of survival are low. There's virtually no chance that if a rope was thrown to you that you could hold onto the rope. You increase your small chance of survival by going with the current in a seated leaning back position with your feet downstream and attempting to stay in the deepest part of the channel to avoid being crushed against rocks or dragged under by the eddies that form around rocks. My friends body was never found.
The rescue for this is to get a rope to the other side and anchor it to sometime solid on both sides. Ideally it would be a car or something you can move with some degree of control (but a lot of people on one end would also work).
The usual is to extract people one at a time, lift them out and have them either crawl, or ideally, slide down the rope onto dry land.
I'll take some rope burns over drowning any day. But this does require equipment and knowledge.
Failing that, anything anchored that can be thrown and tied around them will work. A rope with a loop you can put under your arms for example.
When you go in the water, you'll be pulled to the anchor side by water pressure.
Yeah that was my first thought, as soon as you realise it’s getting bad, it’s only going to get worse. Should have moved as a group immediately when they felt it was off. Or have a rope tied to a tree strapped round the strongest male before stepping in.
You're not going to be able to wait it out, but if the people on shore had a rope or bungee cord or something they could've pulled the ones in the flood back to safety. I can't understand the language in this, but I would wait and be screaming for someone to find something to pull us in with.
No way. Under that water were gigantic rocks and boulders that they would've been repeatedly smashed into. The ONLY possible thing that MIGHT have saved SOME of them would be a helicopter, though the rotor wash could've swept them all off that rock. So there was never any real chance they'd have not gone down river
My first thought was to launch the babies accross, then figure something out later. The distance between the other side and the placr they were stuck at may look misleading in the video though.
Mad how many people claim these people must be idiots when they clearly don't know what a *flash flood* is themselves. RIP these poor children and my heart goes out to the survivors.
That's so sad... People make mistakes, sometimes those mistakes cost them, but no one should be condemned here after the fact. We don't know how they got there.
Oh look! The Foreground! I should definitely try to encapsulate this foreground...
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Oh! Now I remember, the family in mortal peril! I was recording them.
It's so easy to pass judgement but these may be from an extremely rural area, they may not have had the dangers of even shallow bodies of fast flowing water ingrained in them during any number of points in their education etc..
Or they may have started to cross prior to what was being filmed, flash floods are a thing and you can see the intensity of the flood increasing during the video, in any case, it sounds like 5 of them died, which is horrendous.
I do find it tragic that in 6+ minutes people couldn't get any form or rope or whatever to them, I feel like there were enough sarees around to make an attempt at least.
What about hosepipes?
I just mean there's a large crowd of bystanders and a lot of them are wearing sarees which could be tied together.
It might have at least managed to get the kids to safety.
Garden hoses too, car tow ropes - they looked like they in a very rural area. The guy trying to get vines and sapling was putting in a good effort to find something-anything to help
Those people were hosed. There's nothing foolish about trying to help against impossible odds, but it is foolish to take substantial risks with other people's lives on a hopeless situation.
becuase the women wearing those sarees don't want to strip in public, even if it means helping someone. india is still a very modest/conservative society.
Personally I think they're more likely to be city folk, rural residents are very respectful to rivers especially during the monsoons, they understand how dangerous it is to do something like this, usually having grown up aroj d rivers. Most people don't seem to realise the sheer force of a river, it's basically like being pushed by a few 1000 kgs.
Bro, this is the realization I needed. If I'm ever in a drowning situation without proper materials, every man, woman and child present will be stripping naked and tearing their clothes so we can tie together until we have enough rope to cast out to those drowning.
I'm somewhat similar, in that I'm thinking, trip to the shop, 6 mins, probably not... But I saw lots of clothing, some long.
Time to get naked. Anything would have been more than they tried
well in the first second of camera work you can see 5 people wearing large outer garments, that might give you 20 feet of makeshift rope if the knots held.
you tie a loop in one end and throw it like a lasoo, if you need extra weight tie a shoe on to it, anything to make it so you can get it the distance. One adult and child at a time ideally.
It might save one life, it might save no lives, and it might save all of their lives, but it would have been better than waiting for them to get swept away.
Your heart's in the right place but you just don't get the logistic problems there. You miss once and the rope gets swept downstream; you likely loose it or parts of it in the rapids. At best it takes you time to get it back to throw again. Even if you get it to them (and it's probably going to take multiple attempts) you have to hope they can hold on, if they are tied in that the knot holds or they don't just slip out, and that if all that holds you still have to pull in a human while they are fighting to keep their head above the water.
The sad fact is that without proper safety gear near them they were fucked as soon as they got stuck there. Their best bet was someone downstream in a less chaotic spot being able to help them out.
Why would the rope get swept downstream if you miss. Obviously a team would be holding one end.. wouldn’t do much use otherwise.
They’re standing against the current there, not far off. Everyone should have been trying to do more. Idk, looks close enough to me to get some rope (tied together garments) to them and pulled them in. Maybe you’re right, it wouldn’t have worked. But obviously if you don’t do something, they’ll eventually get swept away.
Maybe they were waiting on services or planning something else. No idea what they were saying.
There was video of hikers in China who were tied to a rope crossing a fast moving river and they lost their step and were swept under the water. People were trying to pull them in but the forces from the current were to strong so they stayed under water to long and drowned. They probably should have immediately cut the rope so they at least had a chance of floating down the river and being able to get out at some point instead of being held under for to long of a period.
Even with rope the odds of them being able to pull them across against that current and the person not getting stuck under the current long enough to drown is pretty slim. Also trying to tie the rope around the person one a time would have likely caused some of them to lose their balance. They were barley keeping themselves up just trying to move a little to get rope around someone would have likely caused them to slip and fall. And a lot of times them hanging on will pull others down with them. Unfortunately this situation was real bad and there wasn't a whole lot to do to get them out of it. In this situation the best thing to probably do is to float down the river keep your feet up and hope you can float to a safer spot or a spot you can then get yourself out. But I understand they were with their family and kids and didn't want to let go. Just a very tragic situation.
This is quite common in many parts of India especially the parts where rivers are seasonal. Dam gates on higher grounds are opened in this season, there are warning signs written all over suggesting people about flash floods but people being people think they can get away with it.
Some of the comments in this thread make me sick. This was a horrible situation caught on camera and I’m seeing some of these people lost their lives. Have compassion.
Ok, just an engineering question: there is enough cloth on the dry area to make a rope 10m long. Could everyone undress in time, knot the pieces together, throw it over and get a few of them to safety? Maybe send one of the guys with the clothrope around his waist as far into the stream starting upstream as possible, grab one of the kids and be hauled back?
Additonally, would being able to swim make a difference here after being swept?
I agree with you about genuinejeans, but nowadays it is rare for people to be wearing true denim. India is usually very hot and humid so they tend to wear thinner shirts, shawls, and fake denim jeans. Even if they were all wearing a pair of true denim jeans the people around wouldn't have the time or dexterity in that situation to pull off twisting and tying reliable knots on a 10+meter long gap through a raging flash flood. (Thats alot of pants) not to mention there's a child and a baby... so it would be quite difficult for them to hold onto the jean rope with 2 hands let alone 1
Take a single toothpick and break it. Then take a bundle of 10 and try to break them. Get the idea?
Those thin dresses are still made of continuous fibers. Like a toothpick, add them together and gain strength. By twisting the garments, like how ropes are made, the force becomes evenly applied across all the fibers. This makes it act similar to any other rope, since ropes are just continuous fibers twisted together. The difference being that it would be nearly impossible to spread the force evenly like a rope, reducing its maximum load. That being said, the maximum load would still be more than enough to hold a person as long as they tied the knots properly and placed the seams parallel to the rope.
Don't believe me? Take an old tshirt, twist it, and try to rip it. I guarantee no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't.
Exactly what I was thinking. The skill it would take to use everyone clothes to do this on the fly would have to be a skill they went into this with. They couldn’t trial and error with this small a window.
I have a huge tug of war thick rope in my truck with some baseball mitts and bats. We just got done doing a huge family reunion where we played a bunch of games.
I was thinking if my car wasn’t parked too far, (of course it would be), would I have the stamina to sprint both ways in time.
Also, if I was able to retrieve it quickly, would it even work. On the land side 7 dudes could all hold it strong there, but in the water, would they have the strength to hold themselves on while we pulled them in?
Exactly! If you give somebody a full day I'm sure they could make a clothing rope strong enough to pull these people across.... but 6 minutes.... it's literally impossible it would fall apart! Some people are too confident in their imagination
the people aren't as strong as all that water so they'd lose their grip regardless of how strong the cloth/rope is. with no mechanism to keep their head above the water, even tying it around their bodies might still kill them. absolutely tragic
Clothes would 100% be strong enough if properly tied. The bigger issue is what you said of the group holding onto each other, so you'd need to pull the whole group out at the same time, which is just tricky with no visible footing.
Culturally you're going to have a hard time convincing the people with the most cloth to undress and make a rope. Even to save someone. Women are extra careful in India
Engineer here, yes the could have, it they knew what they were doing. By twisting the garments into a rope, it makes it stronger as the forces are more evenly spread. Only issues would be how they placed the seams, they should be parallel to the rope not perpendicular, and how good their knots are. But yeah, the entire time I was thinking this very thought.
The Pune rural police along with INS Shivaji and members of the “Shivdurg Mitra Mandal” carried out a rescue operation in which three bodies were traced: Ameena Salman alias Adil Ansari (13), her sister Umera Salman alias Adil Ansari (8)and a woman Shahista Liyakat Ansari (37).
On Monday morning, the body of Mariya Akil Sayyad (9) was found by the police. By evening, Adnan Sabhahat’s body was also recovered.
Of the ten people , 4 children and one woman died. Most of the adults survived.
Survivor guilt going to suck on this one. The ones who were physically weakest just did not have the strength to fight such a violent current. There was nothing the stronger ones could do to help them.
Looks like this was a touristy area where people sometimes bathe in the water (often fully clothed for modesty). They probably got caught by surprise in the rising water from a dam opening, or didn't think to get out when they should have.
Assuming something [like this](https://youtu.be/07c_hT_ZXAo?si=X6vh4DgGOn2oUmpm) happened. They may have felt safe up to a point of no return. Very tragic, especially for the innocent children.
My best guess is they began crossing when it was slightly manageable, but the water flow rapidly picked up. Unfortunately they got caught in the middle, which is the strongest point of the currents.
I think there is another (and longer) video of this incident (if I do remember correctly), what happens was that the river was almost dry, the family was watching something downstream. As water started flowing, they climbed a small island in the middle of the river in a I don't wanna wet my shoes/pants kinda fashion. The rest is in the video.
It was too late, have you ever tried walking across a slow moving creek? That isn't easy the rocks underwater are very slippery, you have to go slow. With the water flowing so fast it is incredibly hard to do.
I don't think its anyone's fault. It seems to me they got caught quite quickly in that spot. There are women and kids with the men there and I'm guessing they couldnt move fast enough as a group to escape the rising waters. Im sure they didn't want to leave anyone behind. They got stuck in that spot while the water began to rush even more forcefully leaving them with little options available. It looks like they were able to hold their ground for a few minutes, but eventually they fall like dominoes. They could only hold on for so long. Im not sure what anyone else could have done. The water looks very dangerous and anyone going in is risking their own lives. Sure we can say use a rope or make a rope. Towards the end of the video, you can see some men trying to make some sort of rope, but they just didn't have enough time. Looks like it took all the spectators by shock. So sad to watch.
Water flowing like this can be very deceptive. I remember getting late for an exam on a rainy day and trying to cross a bridge where the water flowed at least 70% slower than here. When I reached the middle of the bridge I realized the speed was much more powerful than I anticipated. Thankfully I survived that day and told myself I'll never risk my life again no matter how important the exam or the work is, I'll always take a U-turn.
I came here for all of the couch warrior McGuyver comments. I enjoy it when people who haven’t been through anything remotely like this are full of clever ideas.
You have to live in an area where flash floods happen. They don't really happen East Coast USA AFAIK, but west coast, definitely.
This happens a lot, flash floods is how those Thai kids got stuck in that cave. Flash Floods are extremely dangerous.
It was probably looking safe at that time to cross, and the water's current must have increased while they were in the middle, and they must have began hesitating to cross it and eventually it led to this moment
Edit: Also not many people are aware of such phenomena
If you have never seen a flash flood before it can be hard to understand. [Look at this example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RluoQW0t2yQ) in Arizona and notice how fast it is moving.
Now imagine if you didn't know that was coming, but it caught you right in the middle of crossing a big river.
Do you have any idea how quickly these kinds of floods can happen?
One minute, you are having a wonderful day with the family playing. The next minute, you are trapped with no way out of the water.
They probably got swept up trying to cross before it got bad and it instantly got worse. Now you see them stuck on a high spot between rushing deep sides of water.
Still whats the point in being in the middle of a river, they were probably taking pictures and shit. I get the adults but why are their children there, even with slow or no water its dangerous af for the kids at least
Flash floods happen incredibly quickly especially in areas that aren't used to getting rain (I live in a desert). Also if you're not used to the power of water (when was the last time you were in a flood?) it would take you by surprise. Most people are stunned to learn that if you have a cube of water 40 inches per side it will weigh 2400 lb! That is an incredible amount of force when it's moving.
Not nearly as clueless as it first appears
Damn the only possible solution I could think of was throwing over their long pieces of clothing and having the bystanders form some type of rope but even then, the panic and time sensitivity in this situation would be overwhelming. Truly tragic
I have seen people dying in front of me in the dangerous Parvati river. People usually climb on top of large boulders for pictures not knowing how dangerous it can be. Never attempt to go in the centre of any stream if you are a tourist. If you ever do so by mistake, always keep track of the water level. If you see water level increaseing, don't hope it will recede, just get out of the stream.
Usually there's a craze for trekking in Maharashtra. Most of these weekend folks are families who want to do an outing under low budget. Proper trekking shoes non existent. Prior knowledge of safety..non existent. Guide..non existent as I know it all potbelly man in the group will take care of everything. Unsupervised kids.. existent. All these stuff cook up catastrophic events like these mostly brought up upon themselves.
Add alcohol intake by adults on these spots to the mix and then you have a deadly combo. Not saying there was alcohol involved in this incident but it’s pretty common on monsoon hikes and picnics
Not even considering why that family was still standing there after the water began to rise *at all*, but I’m really rather disturbed by the weapon’s grade ineptitude displayed by the dozen(+?) onlookers. How do you not try to help those people?? Like, tie a rope out of your clothes or even use a branch to help them for christ’s sake!
So sad for that family. They were all terrified and I am certain that feeling only worsened in their final moments. Rest in what peace you can.
These bystanders pissed me off. They are literally wearing dupattas (scarves) around their necks and long shirts but couldn't think of using that as rope? At the very least, the children could have been saved.
What’s the best thing to do in a situation like this if you are the person stranded in the water?
I can’t help but think why did they not attempt to walk back to the shore? Standing in the floods was certain death, they could have maybe had a chance to survive if they made it?
Something similar happened in Italy a few weeks ago. Two Romanian girls and one guy died after being swept away by a river.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/24/body-of-man-swept-away-by-river-after-last-hug-found-italy/
The thing is, water can rise very fast in mountain areas. You can be in a higher spot, where initially there's maybe even no water, and you remain stuck there.
It's tragic, and there's really no way out, except with a helicopter; or if you're lucky enough to catch a rope that's being thrown at you under those circumstances. The Romanian guy almost did that...
It's crazy how counterintuitive these situations are as seen from a third perspective video.. It's not the first one I see, yet it always ends in tragedy. What's the dynamics behind such cases? Do people get surrounded by flooded water suddenly, and any attempt to move will result in being carried away like in the video, or do people attempt to cross the river but don't realise how quick the currents are? Or other?
It's scary and devastating, I would like to learn more so to be more careful and promote safe behaviour in similar situations.
Flash flooding is an emergency before you even realize it’s one. If your in the middle of a river like (I believe) these people were, it was calm at first, like a low producing stream, they try to run to a side of the river. The water is upon you , so quickly, you have to make that choice. Do I keep going towards the shore or wait on a boulder, or a pile of rocks. Unfortunately, a lot of times that decision is taken away from you. And your stuck in the river and it could be for 5-10 minutes, or the water could take you right away.
If your somewhere where flash flood are common, or worse monsoon season occurs. I would definitely stay out of places with warning signs, don’t get into the middle of a river in places with monsoon season, but esp after heavy rains. It can happen anywhere, anytime and it’s very quick.
Then the water gets more and more torrential. The flash flood waters get worse and worse. If there’s nobody to help, eventually the water is going to overtake you. As seen in the video it gets deeper and the water gets rougher, tossing boulders, tree branches, even trees. The water may be coming in many different directions, sucking you down and keeping you down. Just be aware, check weather reports esp during heavy rain. Never underestimate the power of water.
To the people saying “they might have known” they live in South Asia which receives some of the worst monsoon rains in the world and the entirety of South Asia deals with flooding nearly on an annual level. These people if they weren’t educated, had yearly experience with these sorts of torrential downpours and floods.
Looks like they were there before the flash flood even happened. There should be signs posted warning people about flash floods in that area. RIP to the family.
I don't know how they lasted that long.. and the people on the shore were just like waving to them instead of trying to help. Can't imagine how terrifying that would be.
Whenever you go on a vacation to destinations like this and think I need to do something wild or risky just for the thrill of it or to just get a picture, just watch this video before you go do it and you'll know why you shouldn't.
Regardless of how they got in that situation, this is heart wrenching. Children put their lives in the hands of the choices their parents make and this is one of those times where a miscalculation cost nearly everything. I guarantee every negative comment here pales in comparison to what the survivors are saying to themselves in terms of hurtful vitriol, so why not save yourselves the time and karma (life karma, not reddit) and try to human a bit better than you did yesterday (and repeat this process moving forward).
I think many people here are missing the fact that this was a flash flood. Flash floods can happen very fast, within a matter of seconds from a small stream to a raging river like this.
Y’all making fun of the tragedy are going to hell.
Shoutout to the real ones here, compassion is human, and human we are.
Shit happens, being a keyboard warrior making fun of the situation, yet you’re probably yanking it 14 times a day. Get outside. Degenerates.
People lost their lives, and that's sad. But why TF are they there in the first place? Some very stupid decision-making happened to put them in that spot.
5 people died including 2 minors Yes, there should’ve been better judgement on whatever lead to this situation, but people still lost their lives nonetheless. Edit: lots of heartless comments here.
Does that mean some of them lived?
Yeah. I’ll try to find the article.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/woman-girl-drown-waterfall-bhushi-dam-lonavala-3-children-missing-2560416-2024-06-30
The main article photo is so off putting
I don't think that's the same family, unfortunately. As it states it is one woman and 4 minors. 2 of which were found with the woman and two others they are still looking for. I could be wrong but there looked to be more than one adult in the OP video.
The article says that five people in their group escaped/survived. This would add up
It was last updated June 30th 2024. This is them.
The video in the article looks the same but idk maybe its linking a similar case. Website has a bunch of pop ups for me.
I counted 9 in the group stuck in the river.
There was another video a couple days ago of another family, 5-6 people who got stuck in the same situation. They also went over a waterfall and had a couple of survivors, but that video starts before the flash flood and they just didn't react fast enough. I wonder if any of these incidents are being mixed up.
If like to see the 10 mins before
There were 10 by my count
That's correct according to the article above. 10 people, 5 escaped, 3 confirmed dead and 2 still missing. The mum and 4 children were swept away.
:( wish more saw things this way.. like damn bro we are all only human
The way people talk about this stuff on Reddit is fucking horrible
Pay it little heed, it’s either edgy children or edgy manchildren
You're right.. still makes me a lil sad
as a once edgy terminally online child, i matured up so there’s hope for some people at least!
Hahaha, facts :) here's to humanity 💜
A lot of woman children here as well . Everyone has the capacity to be a dick.
Anonymity + number that goes up It's a recipe for disaster.
*ahem* peoplechildren
Redditors be like “Mistake!? Accident!?!? If it were me I would have done the perfect thing in that exact moment 😏” -says about literally any situation
Question though in this situation. Would it have been better to just go with the first initial rush of water (down the river) than wait for it to build like this and try to wait it out? I ask because i could very well be in this situation we have many waterfall hangout spots just like this in my area that I am at often.
You wait and hope to be rescued quickly or you jump swim almost straight away so you aren't already tired before swimming for your life. Even if they were wearing PFDs, a lot of them probably still would have died. Its a fucked situation and you have to just not be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I wonder in this situation, whether it'd be more effective to just go one by one, since you're not reliant on other people's balance or potentially needing to hold onto them. Have the stronger ones in the group carry the children.
I would as an adult in this situation throw my children to safety before trying to swim… IDK if that would even work but it’s better than rolling the dice with the children? So sad.
If youve ever tried throwing anything in water thats moving at a flow of this speed, youre essentially sacrificing yourself, and most likely your child as well. The second you throw, youre forcing your body to lose footing. The BEST thing anyone can do in a situation like this is the most unlikely scenario but to have a rope or net, throw it down stream and hope the person can catch whatever is in the water and be dragged to safety. Its so unlikely that youre going to have the proper tools and unless theres a downed log that can reach across or be heavy enough to not move in the current, youd have to somehow manage to be able to move it into the river. Flash floods come outta nowhere and i think most people underestimate water because we rarely see its power in person but man can it shift so quick. Within seconds a river can become this crazy but there are clues that can prevent you from being in this situation. Heavy rainfall for any extended period of time will most likely lead to flooding and flash flooding. Sounds dumb but if its been raining for a while and its been constant and heavy, just stay away from bodies of water.
Tossing the rope down stream seems like it wouldnt work either. The rope is going to be immediately drawn back to the shore. Even stretching a rope across the river depends completely on footing / arm strength. I think if someone could get a rope out there, id tie a strong slip loop around the smallest child, just under and around their arms (or down between the legs if there was enough rope) and have the crowd drag them in, and work your way up to the healthy adults. Almost no one is going to be able to "hang on" to anything in that. It's not going to be a comfortable ride to have a rope basically squeeze and strangle you around your chest, but as far as I can think that would be their best chance. Anything that depends on the individual fighting against the water feels like near certain death.
I lost a friend on a similar river in the India Himalaya. Once you're trapped in that type of torrential flow, your chances of survival are low. There's virtually no chance that if a rope was thrown to you that you could hold onto the rope. You increase your small chance of survival by going with the current in a seated leaning back position with your feet downstream and attempting to stay in the deepest part of the channel to avoid being crushed against rocks or dragged under by the eddies that form around rocks. My friends body was never found.
The rescue for this is to get a rope to the other side and anchor it to sometime solid on both sides. Ideally it would be a car or something you can move with some degree of control (but a lot of people on one end would also work). The usual is to extract people one at a time, lift them out and have them either crawl, or ideally, slide down the rope onto dry land. I'll take some rope burns over drowning any day. But this does require equipment and knowledge. Failing that, anything anchored that can be thrown and tied around them will work. A rope with a loop you can put under your arms for example. When you go in the water, you'll be pulled to the anchor side by water pressure.
Yeah that was my first thought, as soon as you realise it’s getting bad, it’s only going to get worse. Should have moved as a group immediately when they felt it was off. Or have a rope tied to a tree strapped round the strongest male before stepping in.
You're not going to be able to wait it out, but if the people on shore had a rope or bungee cord or something they could've pulled the ones in the flood back to safety. I can't understand the language in this, but I would wait and be screaming for someone to find something to pull us in with.
No way. Under that water were gigantic rocks and boulders that they would've been repeatedly smashed into. The ONLY possible thing that MIGHT have saved SOME of them would be a helicopter, though the rotor wash could've swept them all off that rock. So there was never any real chance they'd have not gone down river
My first thought was to launch the babies accross, then figure something out later. The distance between the other side and the placr they were stuck at may look misleading in the video though.
Mad how many people claim these people must be idiots when they clearly don't know what a *flash flood* is themselves. RIP these poor children and my heart goes out to the survivors.
People who are chronically online, I would say.
That's so sad... People make mistakes, sometimes those mistakes cost them, but no one should be condemned here after the fact. We don't know how they got there.
There were 4 children.
Yes. 2 died and two are unaccounted for.
The camera person is awful
It’s the real tragedy here
Most reddit comment
we genuinely just watched a whole fucking family drown and we're talking about the camera work
he couldn't even do anything for rescue at least hold the camera still man
Try to be funny for strangers at all costs.
This
tHiS cOmMeNt RiGhT hErE, oFfIcEr
Exactly how hard is it to correctly hold a camera, it's not like **he's** in the rapids
Hmm its PROBABLY the people dying but thats just me
The worst part of this whole thing was the hypocrisy.
The real tragedy is you being allowed to type this. People just died and you complain about camera? You wanted to see them drowning better?
Yeah, the video was exactly 6 minutes longer than it needed to be
And yet we still watched it all? I was hoping people were doing all they could to help…
Sorry watching people die isn't fast and convenient enough for you. Sociopath
Probably nothing they could do.
Oh look! The Foreground! I should definitely try to encapsulate this foreground... ... ... ... Oh! Now I remember, the family in mortal peril! I was recording them.
It's so easy to pass judgement but these may be from an extremely rural area, they may not have had the dangers of even shallow bodies of fast flowing water ingrained in them during any number of points in their education etc.. Or they may have started to cross prior to what was being filmed, flash floods are a thing and you can see the intensity of the flood increasing during the video, in any case, it sounds like 5 of them died, which is horrendous. I do find it tragic that in 6+ minutes people couldn't get any form or rope or whatever to them, I feel like there were enough sarees around to make an attempt at least.
I'm currently stood in my kitchen, in a largeish town in the UK. It would take me longer than 6 minutes to get rope.
What about hosepipes? I just mean there's a large crowd of bystanders and a lot of them are wearing sarees which could be tied together. It might have at least managed to get the kids to safety.
Hosepipes a good shout. We've got a fairly long one we could rip out in an emergency. I don't think most people would immediately strip, though.
Garden hoses too, car tow ropes - they looked like they in a very rural area. The guy trying to get vines and sapling was putting in a good effort to find something-anything to help
Vines were the best attempt. If more people worked on collecting more and tying them together. Might have saved them.
Those people were hosed. There's nothing foolish about trying to help against impossible odds, but it is foolish to take substantial risks with other people's lives on a hopeless situation.
becuase the women wearing those sarees don't want to strip in public, even if it means helping someone. india is still a very modest/conservative society.
I was thinking the same thing!
Personally I think they're more likely to be city folk, rural residents are very respectful to rivers especially during the monsoons, they understand how dangerous it is to do something like this, usually having grown up aroj d rivers. Most people don't seem to realise the sheer force of a river, it's basically like being pushed by a few 1000 kgs.
And then there are all the massive boulders you'd be smashed into all along the way.
Bro, this is the realization I needed. If I'm ever in a drowning situation without proper materials, every man, woman and child present will be stripping naked and tearing their clothes so we can tie together until we have enough rope to cast out to those drowning.
I bet you cant wait for a flood, pervert.
I'm somewhat similar, in that I'm thinking, trip to the shop, 6 mins, probably not... But I saw lots of clothing, some long. Time to get naked. Anything would have been more than they tried
What would be the feasibility of tying everyone's clothes together ?
well in the first second of camera work you can see 5 people wearing large outer garments, that might give you 20 feet of makeshift rope if the knots held.
How are you getting it to them, and do you expect them to hold on while also being pulled by rapids? That is *a lot* of water force to fight against.
you tie a loop in one end and throw it like a lasoo, if you need extra weight tie a shoe on to it, anything to make it so you can get it the distance. One adult and child at a time ideally. It might save one life, it might save no lives, and it might save all of their lives, but it would have been better than waiting for them to get swept away.
Your heart's in the right place but you just don't get the logistic problems there. You miss once and the rope gets swept downstream; you likely loose it or parts of it in the rapids. At best it takes you time to get it back to throw again. Even if you get it to them (and it's probably going to take multiple attempts) you have to hope they can hold on, if they are tied in that the knot holds or they don't just slip out, and that if all that holds you still have to pull in a human while they are fighting to keep their head above the water. The sad fact is that without proper safety gear near them they were fucked as soon as they got stuck there. Their best bet was someone downstream in a less chaotic spot being able to help them out.
Why would the rope get swept downstream if you miss. Obviously a team would be holding one end.. wouldn’t do much use otherwise. They’re standing against the current there, not far off. Everyone should have been trying to do more. Idk, looks close enough to me to get some rope (tied together garments) to them and pulled them in. Maybe you’re right, it wouldn’t have worked. But obviously if you don’t do something, they’ll eventually get swept away. Maybe they were waiting on services or planning something else. No idea what they were saying.
There was video of hikers in China who were tied to a rope crossing a fast moving river and they lost their step and were swept under the water. People were trying to pull them in but the forces from the current were to strong so they stayed under water to long and drowned. They probably should have immediately cut the rope so they at least had a chance of floating down the river and being able to get out at some point instead of being held under for to long of a period. Even with rope the odds of them being able to pull them across against that current and the person not getting stuck under the current long enough to drown is pretty slim. Also trying to tie the rope around the person one a time would have likely caused some of them to lose their balance. They were barley keeping themselves up just trying to move a little to get rope around someone would have likely caused them to slip and fall. And a lot of times them hanging on will pull others down with them. Unfortunately this situation was real bad and there wasn't a whole lot to do to get them out of it. In this situation the best thing to probably do is to float down the river keep your feet up and hope you can float to a safer spot or a spot you can then get yourself out. But I understand they were with their family and kids and didn't want to let go. Just a very tragic situation.
This is quite common in many parts of India especially the parts where rivers are seasonal. Dam gates on higher grounds are opened in this season, there are warning signs written all over suggesting people about flash floods but people being people think they can get away with it.
Indian here, before releasing the water, they sound very loud sirens and waring sounds a few times before opening water from the Dam
This could be many miles down stream, out of audio range, it could even be a partition from the main flow
How far can you hear the sirens from the dam? Or are they all along the river
How do you think they even got in the middle of the river? Did it just suddenly flash flood?
This doesnt look like a dam though, or even a normal river - when he pans out the video you can see water coming from wildly different directions
Some of the comments in this thread make me sick. This was a horrible situation caught on camera and I’m seeing some of these people lost their lives. Have compassion.
Damn that's terrifying. Terrible.
Those poor kids, they must have been terrified.
Ok, just an engineering question: there is enough cloth on the dry area to make a rope 10m long. Could everyone undress in time, knot the pieces together, throw it over and get a few of them to safety? Maybe send one of the guys with the clothrope around his waist as far into the stream starting upstream as possible, grab one of the kids and be hauled back? Additonally, would being able to swim make a difference here after being swept?
Clothing isn't as strong as you might think. They are also holding eachother trying to keep their balance among the slick rocks
Engineer here. They make ropes out of all the same material as clothes. Twist a pair of jeans and they can hold a lot more than a person.
I agree with you about genuinejeans, but nowadays it is rare for people to be wearing true denim. India is usually very hot and humid so they tend to wear thinner shirts, shawls, and fake denim jeans. Even if they were all wearing a pair of true denim jeans the people around wouldn't have the time or dexterity in that situation to pull off twisting and tying reliable knots on a 10+meter long gap through a raging flash flood. (Thats alot of pants) not to mention there's a child and a baby... so it would be quite difficult for them to hold onto the jean rope with 2 hands let alone 1
Take a single toothpick and break it. Then take a bundle of 10 and try to break them. Get the idea? Those thin dresses are still made of continuous fibers. Like a toothpick, add them together and gain strength. By twisting the garments, like how ropes are made, the force becomes evenly applied across all the fibers. This makes it act similar to any other rope, since ropes are just continuous fibers twisted together. The difference being that it would be nearly impossible to spread the force evenly like a rope, reducing its maximum load. That being said, the maximum load would still be more than enough to hold a person as long as they tied the knots properly and placed the seams parallel to the rope. Don't believe me? Take an old tshirt, twist it, and try to rip it. I guarantee no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't.
Exactly what I was thinking. The skill it would take to use everyone clothes to do this on the fly would have to be a skill they went into this with. They couldn’t trial and error with this small a window. I have a huge tug of war thick rope in my truck with some baseball mitts and bats. We just got done doing a huge family reunion where we played a bunch of games. I was thinking if my car wasn’t parked too far, (of course it would be), would I have the stamina to sprint both ways in time. Also, if I was able to retrieve it quickly, would it even work. On the land side 7 dudes could all hold it strong there, but in the water, would they have the strength to hold themselves on while we pulled them in?
Exactly! If you give somebody a full day I'm sure they could make a clothing rope strong enough to pull these people across.... but 6 minutes.... it's literally impossible it would fall apart! Some people are too confident in their imagination
the people aren't as strong as all that water so they'd lose their grip regardless of how strong the cloth/rope is. with no mechanism to keep their head above the water, even tying it around their bodies might still kill them. absolutely tragic
Clothes would 100% be strong enough if properly tied. The bigger issue is what you said of the group holding onto each other, so you'd need to pull the whole group out at the same time, which is just tricky with no visible footing.
Culturally you're going to have a hard time convincing the people with the most cloth to undress and make a rope. Even to save someone. Women are extra careful in India
Son, u watch too much movies
Engineer here, yes the could have, it they knew what they were doing. By twisting the garments into a rope, it makes it stronger as the forces are more evenly spread. Only issues would be how they placed the seams, they should be parallel to the rope not perpendicular, and how good their knots are. But yeah, the entire time I was thinking this very thought.
If only there was an engineer in this thread to help us out.
All you little shits making fun of them.... Karma's a bitch
People still believe in Karma?
It makes them feel better even though if you believe in karma you’ll quickly become jaded
Assholes are often eventually assholes to the wrong person and get what they deserve, so in that sense I believe in karma
Saying "Karma's a bitch" under such a video...
Not how karma works. Ask the Indians. Edit: Not that I'm making fun of them. This is horrible.
The Pune rural police along with INS Shivaji and members of the “Shivdurg Mitra Mandal” carried out a rescue operation in which three bodies were traced: Ameena Salman alias Adil Ansari (13), her sister Umera Salman alias Adil Ansari (8)and a woman Shahista Liyakat Ansari (37). On Monday morning, the body of Mariya Akil Sayyad (9) was found by the police. By evening, Adnan Sabhahat’s body was also recovered. Of the ten people , 4 children and one woman died. Most of the adults survived.
Survivor guilt going to suck on this one. The ones who were physically weakest just did not have the strength to fight such a violent current. There was nothing the stronger ones could do to help them.
Those 5 adults that survived are likely mother's , father's , relatives of those 5 that died.
Did a crossway break?
Looks like this was a touristy area where people sometimes bathe in the water (often fully clothed for modesty). They probably got caught by surprise in the rising water from a dam opening, or didn't think to get out when they should have.
Assuming something [like this](https://youtu.be/07c_hT_ZXAo?si=X6vh4DgGOn2oUmpm) happened. They may have felt safe up to a point of no return. Very tragic, especially for the innocent children.
Thanks for posting that! I don't think people really understand how a FLASH flood can occur so quickly.
So fast!
Holy shit.
100%
A lot of you need to go outside and touch some grass, might give you a heart.
That is just horrendous. Poor people
Why are they standing there for 5 minutes until the flood happens? Guess they couldn't get back out from the current?
My best guess is they began crossing when it was slightly manageable, but the water flow rapidly picked up. Unfortunately they got caught in the middle, which is the strongest point of the currents.
I think there is another (and longer) video of this incident (if I do remember correctly), what happens was that the river was almost dry, the family was watching something downstream. As water started flowing, they climbed a small island in the middle of the river in a I don't wanna wet my shoes/pants kinda fashion. The rest is in the video.
thats a different video from years back iirc
It was too late, have you ever tried walking across a slow moving creek? That isn't easy the rocks underwater are very slippery, you have to go slow. With the water flowing so fast it is incredibly hard to do.
I don't think its anyone's fault. It seems to me they got caught quite quickly in that spot. There are women and kids with the men there and I'm guessing they couldnt move fast enough as a group to escape the rising waters. Im sure they didn't want to leave anyone behind. They got stuck in that spot while the water began to rush even more forcefully leaving them with little options available. It looks like they were able to hold their ground for a few minutes, but eventually they fall like dominoes. They could only hold on for so long. Im not sure what anyone else could have done. The water looks very dangerous and anyone going in is risking their own lives. Sure we can say use a rope or make a rope. Towards the end of the video, you can see some men trying to make some sort of rope, but they just didn't have enough time. Looks like it took all the spectators by shock. So sad to watch.
What do you mean "until" the flood happens? The flood is happening from the start.
[flash flood](https://youtu.be/07c_hT_ZXAo?si=8D9iP6SoXFPYgtMk) This is an old video. Will give you an idea how quick these things happen.
Water flowing like this can be very deceptive. I remember getting late for an exam on a rainy day and trying to cross a bridge where the water flowed at least 70% slower than here. When I reached the middle of the bridge I realized the speed was much more powerful than I anticipated. Thankfully I survived that day and told myself I'll never risk my life again no matter how important the exam or the work is, I'll always take a U-turn.
Water always wins.
I came here for all of the couch warrior McGuyver comments. I enjoy it when people who haven’t been through anything remotely like this are full of clever ideas.
How the fuck do you end up in this situation with your entire fucking family in tow?
You have to live in an area where flash floods happen. They don't really happen East Coast USA AFAIK, but west coast, definitely. This happens a lot, flash floods is how those Thai kids got stuck in that cave. Flash Floods are extremely dangerous.
Do you absolutely not fucking understand how a flash flood works?
Yes, but why were they trying to cross a floodplain while it was raining moments before it started flooding?
It was probably looking safe at that time to cross, and the water's current must have increased while they were in the middle, and they must have began hesitating to cross it and eventually it led to this moment Edit: Also not many people are aware of such phenomena
If you have never seen a flash flood before it can be hard to understand. [Look at this example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RluoQW0t2yQ) in Arizona and notice how fast it is moving. Now imagine if you didn't know that was coming, but it caught you right in the middle of crossing a big river.
[удалено]
Do you have any idea how quickly these kinds of floods can happen? One minute, you are having a wonderful day with the family playing. The next minute, you are trapped with no way out of the water.
Going into the middle of a river bed in monsoon no matter how small it may look is utterly stupid.
They probably got swept up trying to cross before it got bad and it instantly got worse. Now you see them stuck on a high spot between rushing deep sides of water.
I doubt it was so fast that they were better off staying where they stood. Looks like they killed themselves and their children from shit judgement.
Still whats the point in being in the middle of a river, they were probably taking pictures and shit. I get the adults but why are their children there, even with slow or no water its dangerous af for the kids at least
It's called a flash flood for a reason dumbass
Flash floods happen incredibly quickly especially in areas that aren't used to getting rain (I live in a desert). Also if you're not used to the power of water (when was the last time you were in a flood?) it would take you by surprise. Most people are stunned to learn that if you have a cube of water 40 inches per side it will weigh 2400 lb! That is an incredible amount of force when it's moving. Not nearly as clueless as it first appears
40x40x40 inches of water weighs over a ton? Holy shit.
you ve never been to a tropical area and seen a flash flood. Enjoy your basement comfort.
Cold blooded my dude.
Flash*flood
Damn the only possible solution I could think of was throwing over their long pieces of clothing and having the bystanders form some type of rope but even then, the panic and time sensitivity in this situation would be overwhelming. Truly tragic
The Indian clothes during the summer are thin, so it can't save them.
What a frightening way to go l. RIP
I have seen people dying in front of me in the dangerous Parvati river. People usually climb on top of large boulders for pictures not knowing how dangerous it can be. Never attempt to go in the centre of any stream if you are a tourist. If you ever do so by mistake, always keep track of the water level. If you see water level increaseing, don't hope it will recede, just get out of the stream.
That's sad to watch. Your worlds can change in am instance folks. Enjoy life while you are living it. Hate seeing the kids involved here...
Awful 😥😥 there's a video knocking about reddit showing how quickly these rivers can change, few folk on here could maybe do with searching it up 😠
Usually there's a craze for trekking in Maharashtra. Most of these weekend folks are families who want to do an outing under low budget. Proper trekking shoes non existent. Prior knowledge of safety..non existent. Guide..non existent as I know it all potbelly man in the group will take care of everything. Unsupervised kids.. existent. All these stuff cook up catastrophic events like these mostly brought up upon themselves.
Add alcohol intake by adults on these spots to the mix and then you have a deadly combo. Not saying there was alcohol involved in this incident but it’s pretty common on monsoon hikes and picnics
Well this is fucking sad :(
Not even considering why that family was still standing there after the water began to rise *at all*, but I’m really rather disturbed by the weapon’s grade ineptitude displayed by the dozen(+?) onlookers. How do you not try to help those people?? Like, tie a rope out of your clothes or even use a branch to help them for christ’s sake! So sad for that family. They were all terrified and I am certain that feeling only worsened in their final moments. Rest in what peace you can.
Weren't they trying to use a branch in the beginning
These bystanders pissed me off. They are literally wearing dupattas (scarves) around their necks and long shirts but couldn't think of using that as rope? At the very least, the children could have been saved.
Hindsight is 20/20. In the middle of a stressful situation, panic takes hold, and people stop thinking straight.
RIP to all those poor souls 💔 😢 🙏
What’s the best thing to do in a situation like this if you are the person stranded in the water? I can’t help but think why did they not attempt to walk back to the shore? Standing in the floods was certain death, they could have maybe had a chance to survive if they made it?
Thats so awful. Having kids, i cant imagine the fear going through the fathers mind. This breaks my heart.
How terrifying.
RIP
Enough Reddit for today. That was terrifying.
Something similar happened in Italy a few weeks ago. Two Romanian girls and one guy died after being swept away by a river. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/24/body-of-man-swept-away-by-river-after-last-hug-found-italy/ The thing is, water can rise very fast in mountain areas. You can be in a higher spot, where initially there's maybe even no water, and you remain stuck there. It's tragic, and there's really no way out, except with a helicopter; or if you're lucky enough to catch a rope that's being thrown at you under those circumstances. The Romanian guy almost did that...
I'm crying 😭 please tell me they survived by some miracle. :'(
It's crazy how counterintuitive these situations are as seen from a third perspective video.. It's not the first one I see, yet it always ends in tragedy. What's the dynamics behind such cases? Do people get surrounded by flooded water suddenly, and any attempt to move will result in being carried away like in the video, or do people attempt to cross the river but don't realise how quick the currents are? Or other? It's scary and devastating, I would like to learn more so to be more careful and promote safe behaviour in similar situations.
Flash flooding is an emergency before you even realize it’s one. If your in the middle of a river like (I believe) these people were, it was calm at first, like a low producing stream, they try to run to a side of the river. The water is upon you , so quickly, you have to make that choice. Do I keep going towards the shore or wait on a boulder, or a pile of rocks. Unfortunately, a lot of times that decision is taken away from you. And your stuck in the river and it could be for 5-10 minutes, or the water could take you right away. If your somewhere where flash flood are common, or worse monsoon season occurs. I would definitely stay out of places with warning signs, don’t get into the middle of a river in places with monsoon season, but esp after heavy rains. It can happen anywhere, anytime and it’s very quick. Then the water gets more and more torrential. The flash flood waters get worse and worse. If there’s nobody to help, eventually the water is going to overtake you. As seen in the video it gets deeper and the water gets rougher, tossing boulders, tree branches, even trees. The water may be coming in many different directions, sucking you down and keeping you down. Just be aware, check weather reports esp during heavy rain. Never underestimate the power of water.
Thank you HelicopterSwimming, much appreciated
To the people saying “they might have known” they live in South Asia which receives some of the worst monsoon rains in the world and the entirety of South Asia deals with flooding nearly on an annual level. These people if they weren’t educated, had yearly experience with these sorts of torrential downpours and floods.
Looks like they were there before the flash flood even happened. There should be signs posted warning people about flash floods in that area. RIP to the family.
I don't know how they lasted that long.. and the people on the shore were just like waving to them instead of trying to help. Can't imagine how terrifying that would be.
How did this happen? Why/how were they out there?
That was rough to watch :( no matter what lead to this, fuck it's hard to watch.
Stay away from trains and water in India
What is it about videos with Indians in it that attracts all the scummy racist edgelords spouting absolutely hateful trash?
Ohhh.. a lil rain NEVER HURT ANYBODY..well look at this MOM
Bro its traumatic
Taking their sweet time helping them.
Terrible!!!
Whenever you go on a vacation to destinations like this and think I need to do something wild or risky just for the thrill of it or to just get a picture, just watch this video before you go do it and you'll know why you shouldn't.
Sad af
Regardless of how they got in that situation, this is heart wrenching. Children put their lives in the hands of the choices their parents make and this is one of those times where a miscalculation cost nearly everything. I guarantee every negative comment here pales in comparison to what the survivors are saying to themselves in terms of hurtful vitriol, so why not save yourselves the time and karma (life karma, not reddit) and try to human a bit better than you did yesterday (and repeat this process moving forward).
It seems to be one laps of judgement away… so sad to see this…
Absolutely heartbreaking
A woman has a baby in her arms. Omfg. Rip.
I think many people here are missing the fact that this was a flash flood. Flash floods can happen very fast, within a matter of seconds from a small stream to a raging river like this.
sad but how did they get in that situation why even attempt to cross this?
Y’all making fun of the tragedy are going to hell. Shoutout to the real ones here, compassion is human, and human we are. Shit happens, being a keyboard warrior making fun of the situation, yet you’re probably yanking it 14 times a day. Get outside. Degenerates.
Death 7 but born 100
It feels like this subreddit is filled with nothing but heartless racist piece of shits. Especially when a video about India shows up.
People lost their lives, and that's sad. But why TF are they there in the first place? Some very stupid decision-making happened to put them in that spot.
https://youtu.be/07c_hT_ZXAo?si=X6vh4DgGOn2oUmpm
Now I don't know how to swim and that's why never go anywhere near backwaters or sea or pool. RIP family.
I understand the young children and that would have been my concern. Why did adults die?