Hyderabad: Around 10 people have drowned in the rivers, lakes and canals of Telangana state that are currently filled to the brim due to heavy in-flows thanks to incessant rainfall.
Some of the dead included individuals who were hoping to use the water bodies for recreational purposes.
Paravathi Prakash, a city-based swimming instructor said: “Swimming in these rain-filled tanks, lakes and rivers is not advisable at all. Most of these water bodies are filled with pollutants and micro-organisms which can have a dangerous effect on health.”
Recently, cops rescued a 35-year-old woman in Amberpet, from drowning. She had ventured into the water body for fishing but soon got caught in the muddy water.
Officials said several individuals who had stepped into these tanks and lakes had misjudged the topography and had been pulled into the water. A senior irrigation officer, on condition of anonymity, said: “There are some lakes or tanks in Mahabubnagar and also in the Ranga Reddy region, which look inviting. But almost all of these water bodies have deep slopes in their beds just a few feet from the shore and even expert swimmers have drowned in them.”
The department has now barricaded these water bodies with bamboo sticks and have also appointed police guards to keep watch along overflowing lakes at Shamirpet, Alwal and Kapra areas.
Officials have also discovered the presence of brain-eating bacteria which enter the body through nostrils.
3 youth drown; 6 in car washed away
Two young boys drowned in a pit dug for construction of an underpass along the ORR in Kandlakoya on Saturday. Cops said Rahul Chaudhury, 15, and his brother Karan — both from Bihar — had entered the 12-foot deep pit to take a bath.
Officials said both boys drowned as soon as they entered the pit and added that the trench was not covered by any fencing.
In another incident, a 16-year-old student drowned in the Batasingaram lake at Hayathnagar. Police said Manoj, a native of Karimnagar, drowned in the lake on Friday when he went for a swim with his friends. His body was recovered on Saturday.
Meanwhile in Nizamabad, a woman and her five daughters drowned after the car they were traveling in was washed away by the raging Pillivagu near Karegoan on Saturday. Rajamani, 29, Priya, 7, Jyothi 4, three year old twins—Gyana Hashmita, Gyana Samita and 10 month-old infant Dipaksha drowned when their driver, Ismail, drove up a bridge despite being warned.
