Visakhapatnam: Tragedy struck the agency tracts when eight persons, including children and women, all guest workers from Odisha, drowned after two country boats capsized in Sileru Reservoir along the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) on Monday night.
The incident took place when 35 members of migrant families were trying to sneak into the Odisha border at night, fearing lockdown clampdown. Ten persons managed to swim ashore, while eight others drowned in the river.
The police said that the 35 members of guest workers from Guntawada and Konduguda villages under Malkangiri district in Odisha reached Sileru from Hyderabad as they lost their livelihoods due to the Covid-19 curfew. After crossing the Sileru check post in a vehicle, they reached Jonnalamamidi village on foot and decided to take a boat ride to reach their hometowns as they feared they may be stopped at the border by Odisha officials.
In the first trip, 17 people set off in two country boats and crossed over to Odisha. In the second trip, 18 persons set sail in the same country boats. When the first country boat capsized allegedly due to the overload or the boat hitting a pole underneath the water, the panic-stricken occupants jumped into the other boat to save their lives. But it too gave in and sank in the river.
Chintapalle ASP Vidya Sagar Naidu said that a team of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force with the support of AP police and other departments launched a search and rescue operation to trace the missing eight persons. They recovered six bodies so far from the river and the search is on to trace the remaining two bodies.
The police said that seven among the eight victims were children and women. The bodies were shifted to a local hospital in Odisha for post mortem. A 13-month-old baby also died in the incident.
Meanwhile, AP minister for health Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas asked the Visakhapatnam district authorities to take up rescue operations. He also asked them to ensure proper treatment to the people who managed to swim ashore.
