Two more bodies of students, who got swept away in river Beas of Himachal Pradesh four days ago, were retrieved on Thursday. Searches were on for 16 other missing students and tour operator Prahlad, feared dead in the river after being washed away when Largi hydel power project reservoir gates were opened on Sunday.
Already, six bodies were fished out in the past three days. Those recovered on Thursday were identified as that of T. Upender of Palvancha in Khammam district and Gonoor Arvind Kumar of Vanasthalipuram on Hyderabad outskirts.
The body of Upender was traced within 100 yards of the spot where the 24 students and the tour operator got swept away. “It didn’t surface in the water. Rescue teams were looking out for bodies using sticks. They would dip sticks inside the swirling waters and thoroughly search till riverbed,” a police officer supervising searches informed over phone.
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Upender’s body got stuck underneath a boulder with head down. As his head got severely damaged, establishing his identity became difficult. His father, G. Vinod Kumar, confirmed the body was of his son after finding a religious thread tied to his wrist and moles on the back.
“Even after tracing the body, it took more than 90 minutes for the rescuers to take it out from underneath the boulder,” the police said. The body of Aravind was found a kilometre away from the spot. His limbs got stuck in the mud. As there were no injuries on the head, it could be identified easily. The bodies were being shifted to Hyderabad by road and are expected to reach here in next 24 hours.