NEW DELHI : Nine people have drowned in India’s capital during religious festivals in a river, an official said Thursday. Five devotees drowned in New Delhi’s Yamuna River during a ritual that involves submerging idols of the elephant-headed Hindu god, a city fire department official said. The deaths occurred in separate incidents along the Yamuna, the largest tributary of the Ganges, on Wednesday, said fire control room duty official Ramanand, who uses one name. “Young people carrying idols often wade out deep into the waters and then fail to make it back to the banks and drown,” Ramanand told AFP.