The 17th birthday celebrations of C. Praveen, a first-year polytechnic student here, ended in tragedy after he, along with three others, were fished out as dead bodies from a village tank here on Wednesday.
The Kodad police who conducted rescue operations, minutes after they went missing at around 1.30 p.m. in Peddacheruvu on the Anantagiri village outskirts here, retrieved the bodies. The police identified them as Chakrala Praveen, Dugyala Bhavani Prasad, Mohammed Sameer and Navile Mahindar Simha, all aged 16 years, and first-year polytechnic diploma students at the Anurag Engineering College in Anantagiri village in the mandal. According to Inspector Srinivas Reddy, none of the boys knew how to swim. It was found that some 23 students were partying, having lunch on the temple side near Peddacheruvu. And when one person went out of sight the others had gone in search of him, he said.
Classmates, also eyewitnesses, requesting anonymity said they were there, not far from their college premises, for Praveen’s birthday lunch. “While we still sat there , seven of our friends walked towards the tank. It was Sameer who got down through the bank steps first to wash hands, but slipped into the tank.
Others jumped in one after the other attempting to save him,” a boy said. Parents of the teenage victims – farmers and private drivers, were inconsolable at the sight of their bodies on the banks of Peddacheruvu.
Kodad Revenue Divisional Officer Kishore Kumar, who inspected the site and revealed preliminary details, said a detailed inquiry was initiated.