Lance Naik Rohit Narayan Patil of the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (Special Forces), died after being swept away in the Yamuna River during a watermanship training exercise at Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district. The accident occurred on the evening of 1–2 September 2026. His body was recovered on 3 September nearly 200 kilometres downstream.
Patil was one of five soldiers of 1 Para SF aboard an Army boat conducting a joint watermanship drill, described in official and local accounts as a flood-related or aerial-to-water training exercise. The boat developed a technical snag, lost power, and was carried by strong currents toward the downstream side of the barrage. It became trapped in powerful eddies near the sluice gates and capsized. Three commandos swam to safety. Two were swept away.
Patil, a resident of Sangli district in Maharashtra, was identified in subsequent reports after some initial accounts referred to him as Aryan Patil. The second soldier lost in the incident was Paratrooper Ajay Bhagat of Akhnoor, Jammu and Kashmir. His body was recovered earlier, on the night of 3 September, from the Yamuna near Bartha village in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, about 12–15 kilometres from the barrage. The Army had not issued a formal public confirmation of names at the time the recoveries were first reported.
A multi-agency search involving the Army, Indian Air Force helicopters, NDRF, SDRF units from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, police, and civil administration continued for more than a day. Water release from the barrage and the Western Yamuna Canal was reduced to assist the operation. Patil’s body was found in the Hansi Branch Canal near Jind, Haryana.
1 Para SF, among the oldest Special Forces battalions of the Parachute Regiment and known as “Pratham,” specialises in high-risk missions that include specialised insertion and watermanship training. Such live-river drills form part of the unit’s preparation for operations in demanding environments. The accident illustrates the risks inherent even in peacetime training for Special Forces personnel.
Families of both soldiers have been informed. Official identification procedures, last rites, and formal tributes from the Army are expected to follow. The search for the missing personnel concluded after both bodies were recovered.
