Nagpur, Oct 14 (PTI) Four teenage boys were swept away in a river canal near Ramtek in Nagpur district of Maharashtra on Monday, police said.

A search has been launched by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel to trace Mandeep Patil (17), Mayank Meshram (14), Anant Sabre (13), and Mayur Bagre (15)- all students of Indira Gandhi Vidya Mandir and Junior College in Ramtek. They hail from Nagpur.

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The students, all inmates of the college hostel, ventured into the canal at around 2 pm for bathing, officials said.

"They were swept away due to strong water currents in the canal overflowing due to the recent release of water from the Pench River," a police official said.

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After being alerted, SDRF personnel and local police rushed to the spot and launched a search operation.

The search was suspended due to darkness and will resume on Tuesday morning, the officials said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)