Hyderabad: Eleven people drowned in the rivers and lakes of the Telugu states on Friday while taking holy baths before prayers on Maha Sivarathri. Four youths who went to bathe in the Godavari River in the Hajipur mandal of Mancherial district in TS were drowned.
One of the bodies was recovered after a search. The dead man Srikanth, 28, was a resident of Jafarnagar, in Mancherial town. The three missing are Chitla Rajamouli and A. Saikumar of Ramakri-shnapur town and Pothula Sudhakar of Mancherial town.
In another incident, four youths drowned in the Godavari at Chintala Bayyaram village in the Pinapaka mandal of TS. The deceased are Gude Prem Kumar, 22, Santanapalli Murali Krishna, 20, and Alli Nagendrababu from Edulla Bayyaram village and Bhuvanagiri Pavan Kumar, 20, of Uppada village.
The youths who wanted to pray at the ancient Siva Temple in Chintala Bayyaram went to the river along with relatives. The four entered the river at a point far away from their kin.
Pavan Kumar, who fell into a whirlpool, shouted for help. The other three tried to rescue him in vain. They drowned by the time their relatives reached the spot. Their bodies were retrieved by swimmers.
In another incident in AP, 13-year old M. Koushik of Eluru lost his life while taking a holy dip in the Tammileru canal near Ramalingeswara temple in Balivey village in Krishna district. Pilgrims and local residents slammed the district administration for its poor arrangements; and alleged that a huge pit dug by illegal sand miners was the reason for the boy’s death.
Nuzvid police said M. Kaushik, a resident of Nalla Dibba of Eluru, in West Godavari district, had came to the temple along with three friends without intimating his parents.
Kaushik and his friends went into the water to take a dip. Kaushik got stuck in a deep sand pit and could not come out. His friends searched for Kaushik in the deep waters and found him after an hour. They took him to Nuzvid area hospital. But doctors declared that Kaushik was brought dead.
Meanwhile, the police of Nuzvid in Krishna district and Pedavegi of West Godavari were confused regarding which side of the canal came under Krishna district. The Pedavegi MRO examined the pit where Kaushik died, and said that it comes under Pedavegi.
A case was registered at the Pedavegi police station. Another tragedy took place at the Shamirpet Lake in TS. Two students studying at the government polytechnic college in Narsapur were drowned.
“There were 11 boys. Five of them lost their grip on the rocks and started drowning. Only three were saved. The remaining two died,” Shamirpet police officials said. The deceased boys Vishnu, 18, and Sai Ram, 18 belonged to Medchal.
