Three members of a family drowned after the car in which they were travelling lost control and plunged into the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project canal here on Thursday.
Orsu Raghu, 45, his wife Alivelu, 38, and 19-year-old daughter Keerthi, a B.Tech student were found dead when the police pulled out the car from the canal. Youngest of the family, Kartheek, 13, was rescued by locals.
According to the police, the family members were returning to Vanasthalipuram in Hyderabad after visiting their native village of Vadderigudem in Pedda Adiserlapally mandal. The four had come to their native village two days ago to attend a family function.
The accident happened at around 8.30 a.m. near Dugyala village just a kilometre from their Vadderigudem house.
According to police, the car lost control on the narrow approach road after it jumped a small rock on the slight curve and plunged into the canal.
“They were not moving at high speed as it is a very narrow stretch. Raghu, who was at the wheel, seems to have lost control in panic. The car which was floating for sometime sank some 500 metres from the embankment,” police quoting locals said.
“Raghu was still with the seat belt on, the doors remained closed, the mother was hugging her daughter tightly, and only Kartheek could be pulled out. They drowned slowly as everyone watched, even as rescue attempts failed,” police said.
Raghu, a private road works contractor in Hyderabad, had hired the car for the journey, and might not have been an experienced driver and none of the occupants in the car knew swimming, police said.
Kartheek, his relatives and villagers were inconsolable as the bodies of the three victims were handed over to the family members after post-mortem. The last rites would be held at Vadderigudem. Police have launched an investigation into the incident.