A 45-year-old woman was rescued from drowning in a three-hour-long joint operation by the teams of the State Disaster Management Force (SDRF) and the police here on Wednesday, police said. Bagu Begum was caught in the middle of Tawi river in the Billicharana area due to a sudden increase in the water level following heavy rains in its catchment area, Sub-Inspector Ranjit Singh said. Singh, who is in-charge of police post Billicharana, said the woman was crossing the river along with her cattle from Nikki Tawi to Billicharana side around 9 am. He said police teams immediately rushed to the scene after getting the information and launched a rescue operation but their efforts could not bore fruit due to increased water level. Accordingly, an SDRF team was called in and the woman was successfully rescued around 12.15 pm and handed over to her family, the officer said.
