ANANTAPUR: Two out of four persons washed away during Ganesh idol immersions at Pandameru canal on the outskirts of Anantapur city, in Rapthadu mandal, were rescued on Thursday.
Police and rescue teams took out the body of B Sreeramulu, an ambulance driver. They also launched a search to establish the whereabouts of a girl, B Jayasree, missing in the swollen canal.
Sources said a large number of people went for Ganesh Idol immersion from Sai Nagar here. During the immersion ceremony, they could not assess the depth of the canal, one of the locations for immersion not far from Anantapur headquarters and the Rapthadu area.
Soon after the group stepped into the canal, four persons were washed away. Rescue teams succeeded in saving two of these persons but the others -- Sreeramuliu and Jayasree -- drowned in the flow.
The teams traced the body of Sreeramuliu and continued the search for the missing girl.
Meanwhile, reports came of a miracle escape for more than 40 passengers of a private bus between Bengaluru and Anantapur on Thursday. The bus slipped into an overflowing tank at Kotnur in Hindupur of Satya Sai district. All the passengers were rescued from the bus by the locals.
Police sounded an alert for all parts of Rayalaseema region over possible mishaps in irrigation tanks, canals and rivers.
