No bridge to village: Andhra man walks with daughter’s body for 3km in Agency

VISAKHAPATNAM: In a shocking incident which, ironically, came to light when the country was celebrating its 74th Independence Day, a tribal man was forced to carry the body of his seven-year-old daughter for about three kilometres to reach his home in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam.
After the ambulance stopped some three kilometres from his village due to a dilapidated bridge, the inconsolable father walked home carrying his dead daughter in his arms, with his sobbing wife and two other relatives in tow. The incident, which happened on Friday, came to light on Saturday after the poignant photographs went viral on social media.
The bridge across a stream at Pariseela village near Kinchumanda Santabayalu junction in Dumbriguda mandal was damaged during cyclone Hudhud in 2014.
It has not been repaired till date despite locals bringing it to the notice of revenue officials several times. As the bridge is not fit for motor vehicles, tribals walk to their villages from there, the distance often ranging between two to 25 kilometres.
Locals said Gollori Babu Rao of Vayya village, in Kitalangi panchayat of Dumbriguda mandal, had admitted his seven-year-old daughter Elicha in Araku valley hospital where the girl died on Friday. Vayya village is around 22 kilometres from Araku valley. The family was provided an ambulance to take the body home, which stopped at the bridge, from where Babu Rao had to carry his daughter’s body home in his arms.