In a heart-rending incident, an 85-year-old woman died on Monday soon after seeing the body of her daughter, who died in the boat mishap in Vijayawada on Sunday.
The woman, Lakshmikantham, collapsed as the body of her 50-year-old daughter D. Leelavathi was brought from Vijayawada after post-mortem in the morning.
On examination, her family doctor said she had died of cardiac arrest, her cousin Krishna Prasad, who brought her body here for funeral later in the day, told The Hindu.
Insisted on life jackets
“Leelavathi insisted on life jackets for her and the other travellers who were on a visit to Amaravati and Vijayawada for Karthika Vana Samaradhana. But the boat crew allayed their fears saying nothing would happen,” Krishnaprasad, with moist eyes, said.
He said the survivors revealed that the ill-fated boat had hit a rod and swerved towards right as the water flow was heavy in the place where the Godavari waters joined the Krishna.
“Then the boatmen lost control of the boat and it capsized when we were about to reach Pavitra Sangamam,” said Pendyala Srinivasa Rao, who survived the accident.
Miraculous escape
It was a miraculous escape for B. Lakshmi, B. Venkateswarlu and D. Sivanarayana as they clinged on to the capsized boat before the crew of another boat rescued them.