Local residents rescue tourists from a waterfall at Tilauthu in Rohtas district on Sunday.

More than 40 tourists had a narrow escape while bathing in the Tutla waterfall, around 165 km southwest of Patna.

Tourists from many different places had assembled at the waterfall to take a dip on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

However, the water level increased suddenly and many tourists found themselves trapped at different points on rocks.Some local youths, who were present at the spot, formed a human chain, collected bamboo poles and rescued the tourists.

The local youths, including Vikas Chauhan, Varun Kumar and Upendra Singh, said that a very large volume of water suddenly started gushing in and encircled the tourists."We formed a human chain, took the help of a bamboo pole, asked the people to follow instructions.

We managed to rescue all the tourists safely," said Vikas Kumar, who is a member of the local committee to take care of tourists at the waterfall. Later, the district administration put up a sign telling tourists not to visit the waterfall during the rainy season.