Miracle survivor held onto boat’s railing for 25 mins; victim’s mum dies on seeing body

ONGOLE: Six-year-old Sai Ujjwala, the only daughter of Satish, a registered medical practitioner in Ongole, appears tired. She has been sleeping ever since she returned home from Vijayawada on Monday morning. Just a day earlier, she had been in high spirits. The Class I student of Chaitanya Techno School was on an excursion with her grandparents, Pasupuleti Sitarmaiah (65) and Anjamma (58), to Amaravati and Vijayawada. The highlight of the trip was to be the boat ride to the Pavithra Sangamam. But that was not to be.

The boat overturned as the driver tried to take a turn after it ran into a mound of silt near the confluence of the Krishna and the Godavari. Anjamma, Sitaramaiah and Ujjwala fell into the river along with the other passengers. Anjamma was washed away within seconds. Her husband, who tried to hold her, could not do so and in the process, he too drifted into the waters. Ujjwala, though, held on to the boat’s railing firmly and managed to stay afloat for close to 25 minutes.

Friends, well-wishers and the media thronged the residence of Satish at Rajapanagal road here to console the bereaved family. Each and everyone wanted to console the brave girl, but the latter seemed unable to understand what had happened. She woke up only when her mother told her she could have an ice cream. Asked how she stayed afloat, all she could say was “police took away grandfather.... grandmother drowned”. Satish, her father, was in a shock and could hardly speak.

His relative TSR Murthy told TNIE, “It is a miracle that Chitti survived. She clung to a rod on one side of the boat. In about 20-25 minutes, some people in a nearby boat came and pulled her out.” He said as the news of the tragedy broke, Satish rang up his close friend Dr Sudhakar Reddy and asked him to search for his parents and daughter. “Fortunately, Reddy and his wife Deepthi were at the ghat. They were on a different boat. They traced the girl in 20 minutes. When they found her, she was sitting with a forlorn look. They spoke to her parents on WhatsApp and Chitti too did but couldn’t say anything except that her grandfather was taken away by the police and her grandmother drowned,” he said. Sitaramaiah breathed his last a few hours later at the Andhra Hospital.Meanwhile, double tragedy struck  Manasvi, a final-year BTech student of VITS Vellore Engineering College, and a resident of Mangamuru road in the town.

Her mother D Lilavathi (50) was among the people who died in the tragedy. The body arrived at their residence around 4.30 a.m. While she was in grieving, her grandmother Ravipati Lakshmi Kanthamma (70), arrived a couple of hours later. Lakshmi Kanthamma wasn’t informed of her daughter’s death. One of her relatives said she was shocked to find her daughter’s body. She was inconsolable. She went to the washroom and collapsed just as she returned to the hall, he added. Kanthamma died of heart attack. The double tragedy left Manasvi shell-shocked. Her father had died in 1989. Her mother was an employee at a private company in the town. Lilavathi’s sister Susheela and her husband Krishna are taking care of her now. The last rites of the mother and daughter will be performed on Tuesday after the return of Susheela and Krishna’s son from the US.

Orphaned in tragedy

Manasvi, whose mother died in the tragedy and later her grandmother, lost her father in 1989. Lilavathi’s sister Susheela and her husband Krishna are taking care of her now.

Death toll rises to 21

One more body to be recovered
45 people
were onboard boat having capacity of 20
A10 lakh
ex gratia for bereaved families
14 lives
saved by fishermen N Pichaiah,
K Sivaiah. Assembly congratulates duo, promises J5 lakh each
Hunt on for absconding driver Suribabu, assistant driver Byrava Swami, helper Ramarao
5 owners
of boat operator slapped with case under IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder)
Boat operator had signed MoU with Tourism Dept, but violated norms
Committee including IAS, IPS officers to be set up to ensure boat safety
Licence situation
As of now, no licence required for boat drivers
CM says licences will be given to helmsmen too henceforth