BTech student missing after Hussainsagar boat fire

HYDERABAD: A 21-year-old BTech student, S. Ajay, has gone missing from the time he and two of his college mates jumped into the lake to save their lives after the boat adjacent to the one they were in was up in flames during the conclusion of the Bharatha Matha Maha Harathi programme at Hussainsagar lake Sunday night.

Lake police and DRF teams launched massive rescue operations to trace the missing persons, but were yet to locate Ajay, who may have drowned in the lake.

According to Ajay’s father S. Shankar Ramulu, an auto-driver, his son had called around 3.30 pm on Sunday to inform that was out to meet his friends, S. Raghavendra and P. Sai Chander.

“When I called Ajay at 7.30 pm, he informed me that the three of them were boating in Hussainsagar. I and my wife S. Nagalakshmi were worried as Ajay could not swim,” Ramulu, a resident of Nagaram village, told Deccan Chronicle.

“I called my son at 8.30 pm and asked him to return to which he said that they would return soon. That was the last time I spoke to Ajay,” said Nagalakshmi, who, along with her family members, was at the lake.

According to Raghavendra, the three of them were at the lake by 4.30 pm. Around 9 pm, their boat was crossing the venue of the event when as a result of a sudden burst and fire in the adjacent boat, live crackers and rockets hit their boat.

“We jumped into the water when our boat caught fire,” he said.

A rescue team member said that they were able to rescue Sai Chander and Raghavendra through speed boats but Ajay was not found. They alerted the police by dialling 100.

Raghavendra and Sai Chander are students of Geetanjali college in Nagaram.

Ajay’s elder brother S. Arvind (23) is a graduate while younger sister S. Pakkavi is in the first year.