Nizamabad: Three children and three men drowned while attempting to rescue a child who had ventured deep into the Godavari river, at the VIP pushkar ghat at Pochampad in Nizamabad district, near the Sriramsagar Project, on Friday.
According to the police, a large number of devotees throng the ghats for the teppotsavam on Fridays during which they also bathe in the river.
The victims belonged to three families, who had come from Yellammagutta, Dekampally and Maklur villages of Nizamabad district, for the tonsuring ceremony to a two-year-old boy.
When they were bathing, one of the children went deep inside the water and was struggling to return. The other family members who heard him shouting for help entered into the water to rescue him but drowned in the attempt.
Upon noticing this, locals rushed in saved one child, Ravikanth, 14, but six others —three children and three elders — died drowned. With the help of expert swimmers, the police retrieved bodies from the river.
On learning of the accident, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao expressed shock and grief over the deaths. Calling the incident unfortunate, the CM conveyed his condolences to the members of the bereaved families. Nizamabad MLC K. Kavitha also expressed her condolences to the family members.
The deceased were identified as Bobbilla Srinivas (40), his two children Srikar (14) and Sidharth (16), native of Yellammagutta, Dodla Raju (24), native of Guthpa village of Maklur mandal, Suresh (42) and his son Yogesh (16), native of Dekampally village of Nandipet mandal of Nizamabad district.
The bodies have been sent for the post-mortem investigation. Police has booked a case and begun investigations.
