Colourful festival of Holi turned tragic for some families as it claimed the lives of 11 revellers in the State on Wednesday. Five of them, all students, died in Nizamabad, three in Medak, two in Adilabad and one in Hyderabad.
After playing Holi, the students including siblings, Shaik Imran (17) and Shaik Afroze (16), their cousin Shaik Tousiq (17), Mohammed Afrar (18) and Badala Madhu (15) had gone to the Basanth tank to take a bath. Though none of them knew swimming they plunged into the tank, resulting in the tragedy. Three of them were studying intermediate, while one each in SSC and ninth standard.
With three of them belonging to single family of Shaik Ahmedduddin and Khayyum, a pall of gloom descended on their locality in the village. Family members broke down on seeing the three bodies and wept inconsolably.
The former Zilla Parishad Chairman Taher Bin Hamdan and other Congress leaders made arrangements for taking out the bodies. The Deputy SP, Armoor, K. Narsimha, CI of Police, Dichpally, Md. Waheeduddin and the SIs of Police Rajasekhar (Sirikonda) and Naresh (Dichpally) monitored the rescue operations. The bodies were shifted to Area Hospital at Armoor for post-mortem examination.
In Medak district, three persons were drowned after Holi celebrations. In the first incident, Nagaraju (25), a resident of Jogipet village went to take a bath in Manjeera River and drowned.
In similar incidents, Raju (25) and M. Srinivas drowned in tanks, the first one near Chamundeswari temple and near Ramayampet mandal headquarters respectively.
But for these tragic deaths, Holi was celebrated in a big way in Medak district with large number of people participating in it. Youth were seen riding motor cycles and sprinkling colours. At Sangareddy, Government Whip T Jayaprakash Reddy and SP G. Vijayakumar, district educational officer G Ramesh and others participated in the celebrations.
Search operation launched
In Adilabad district also, two students met watery grave after holi celebrations. A 15-year-old holi reveller, Kuntala Sagar, drowned in the Kuntavagu stream in Tamsi mandal while bathing. According to police, Sagar, a resident of Bandalnagapur village who was writing his SSC exams, came to the stream with 15 other friends. He however, did not know swimming and drowned. His body is yet to be found though police had launched search operation soon after the incident.
In the second incident, a 17-year old student of Sanjay Gandhi Polytechnic, Adilabad, Prem, belonging to Khammam district drowned in the Satnala project while on a picnic. He had gone to the project for a swim with his friends after celebrating holi.
In Hyderabad, a reveller drowned in a well after stepping inside for bathing near a tank close to IDL factory premises in Kukatpally on Wednesday.
Fifteen-year-old Shaik Ameer from Sangeethnagar of Kukatpally played Holi with friends and went to the well for bathing in the afternoon.. “He didn’t know swimming and drowned in the water,” the Kukatpally Inspector Chandrakanth said.
