SRINAGAR: A 16-year-old boy drowned in the Lidder River in the Chee area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Sunday, prompting the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) to launch a search and rescue operation, officials said. The incident occurred at Dar Mohalla in Chee, where the boy, identified as Barik Bilal, son of Bilal Ahmed Sofi and a resident of Laram Ganjipora, Anantnag, drowned in the river. After receiving information about the incident, the SDRF Component Anantnag deployed a rescue team and began a search operation in coordination with local residents. Following sustained efforts, the SDRF team recovered the boy’s body from the river and handed it over to the local police for further legal formalities.