India’s river divers risk health in search for hidden treasures

Items collected by people, who go to the river to hunt for coins and other valuables from the waters of river Yamuna, are kept in a container in New Delhi, India, June 26, 2025. REUTERS/Bhawika Chhabra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -At the crack of dawn, Ramu Gupta slings a blue bag onto his shoulder and heads to the Yamuna River in the Indian capital in search of his fortune.

The 67-year-old is one of hundreds of gotakhors, or divers, who go to the river to hunt for coins, trinkets, discarded bottles and shards of metal and wood that can be sold in Delhi's booming scrap market.