By Express News Service
GUNTUR: The 26-year-old wife of a fisherman and their three-year-old daughter drowned when his fishing boat capsized after a dredger boat hit it in the Krishna off Borupalem in Thullur mandal of Guntur district in the early hours of Saturday. Nadakuduru Saida Raju, a fisherman from Adda Road in Ibrahimpatnam of Krishna district, his wife Madhavi and daughter Kavyam had gone fishing on Friday night. In the early hours, a dredger boat ran into Saida Raju’s boat which had been anchored near Borupalem, upending it while the family was asleep. Raju managed to swim to safety, but his wife and daughter drowned.
Madhavi reportedly knew how to swim, but failed to act swiftly and save herself as she was asleep at the time of the accident.On being alerted, Thullur CI U Sudhakar and his team rushed to the spot and engaged four boats for rescue work. NDRF personnel who were pressed into service retrieved the bodies of the mother and child from the river after a few hours of search.
Raju and his relatives broke down on seeing the bodies of Madhavi and Kavyam. The bodies were shifted to the government hospital in Amaravati. A case has been registered and investigation is on.
Meanwhile, Krishna Collector B Lakshmikantham in a press release said a solatium of `11 lakh would be paid to the victims’ family. Out of Rs 11 lakh, Rs 6 lakh is being paid by the owners of the dredging vessel and `5 lakh is being paid under Chandranna Bheema Pathakam.
