An Indian government official has been suspended after ordering an entire reservoir to be drained to recover a mobile phone he had dropped.
Rajesh Vishwas was on holiday at the Kherkatta Dam in central India when he lost his phone.
Mr Vishwas was taking a selfie when his smartphone fell into the water.
He called local divers to try to retrieve it.
When they failed, he arranged for two powerful pumps to be run for three days to empty out 2 million litres of water, enough to irrigate 600 hectares of farmland.
He only stopped when an official from the irrigation and water resource department visited the site after a complaint.
Mr Vishwas said the phone — which the BBC reported was a Samsung — had official data stored on it, but after three days in water it was unusable.
An official from the district of Kanker, in Chhatisgarh, told the Times of India Mr Vishwas did not have official permission to drain the dam, despite reportedly having verbal permission.
"Vishwas has been suspended with immediate effect for misusing his position by draining lakhs of litres of water from the waterbody in summer's heat, to find his mobile phone, which is not acceptable," the official was quoted as saying.
"He pumped out water without seeking formal permission."
ABC/Wires
