Villagers conducting search operation for 10 youngsters who went missing at a local tank in Nellore district | Express
NELLORE: A pall of gloom descended over Toderu village in Nellore district on Monday with the rescue workers recovering the bodies of the six youngsters, who went missing after their boat capsized in a local pond on Sunday.
It may be noted that a group of 10 youngsters went for a boat ride at a local tank in Toderu of Podalakuru mandal. The overloaded country boat capsized and four of the youth managed to reach the shore and six others had gone missing.
SDRF teams and police took up the rescue operation on Sunday evening but had to discontinue the operations due to lack of proper lighting. The operations continued on Monday and all the six bodies were recovered by afternoon.
The deceased were identified as Alli Srinath (16), Challa Prasanth Kumar (26), Batta Raghu (25), Pamujula Balaji (20), Mannuru Kalyan (30) and Pati Surendra (16).
Local MLA and Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy, who also hails from the same village, monitored the rescue operations. Superintendent of Police Ch Vijaya Rao also visited the spot and inquired about the incident. “The local youth of the village had previously taken out the boat a few times without informing the pond caretaker. This time too, they took the boat without the knowledge of the caretaker,’’ he said adding the boat capsized while taking a U-turn with the oar, which caused flooding. All the youths jumped into the pond as water entered the boat, informed the SP.
“Never in the history of this village such a tragedy has happened. This is probably the worst tragedy that the villagers are going through,’’ Kakani said. All the deceased are the only sons of their parents, he added. A case of unnatural death under Section 174 of CrPC has been registered at Podalakuru police station and investigation is underway.
Meanwhile, upon hearing about the tragic news, the grandmother of Srinath, one of deceased, died of heart attack at Bucchireddypalem village.
