Vijyender Sharma/Shimla

 At least Seven youths from Mohali area of Punjab drowned in the Gobind Sagar Lake on the Sutlej river in Himachal Pradesh's Una district on Monday. According to the sources, the victims, all males, were from Banur of Mohali SAS Nagar district in Punjab and were aged between 14 and 35 years. One of them was about 35 years old.

Meanwhile,State Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has expressed deep grief over the incident of youth drowning in Govind Sagar lake in Una district today. He said the bodies of all the drowned people were fished out by divers. He prayed to God to grant peace to the departed souls and strength to the bereaved family members to bear this irreparable loss.

Sources said the group of 11 youths was returning after paying obeisance at the Naina Devi shrine. They had come to the lake and decided to take a swim. The incident reportedly took place at about 3.40 pm when one of them began to drown and others tried to save him.

Four of them managed to return to the bank.

Seven bodies have been recovered from the lake, according to the latest updates.Those deceased have been identified as Pawan Kumar (35), son of Surjit Ram; Raman Kumar (19), son of Lal Chand; Lakhbir Singh (16), son of Ramesh Lal; Arun Kumar (14), son of Ramesh Kumar; Vishal Kumar (18), son of Raju; Shiva (16), son of Avtaar and Labh Singh, son of Lal Chand."Police, administration and rescue teams deployed. I am also reaching the spot in some time," Arjit Sen, SP, Una said earlier.