Swirling and swiftly flowing water in the Musi with sludge underneath has made difficult the searches for toddler Manvi, who slipped into the river from her father’s arms at L.B. Nagar, on Thursday.
Except for the expert swimmers and some locals, others didn’t dare to enter the river which was full of dirt, long and thick grass, and thorny bushes. Incessant rain increased the inflow of water into the river.
As the toddler fell, her father Megha Shyam Reddy started shouting for help.
“The sludge and swiftly flowing water apparently deterred him from jumping into the river,” said the L.B. Nagar policemen who reached the spot first. It would not have been of much help even if he had jumped into the river, they feel. The 18-month-old baby was weighing not more than 10 kg and possibly would have been washed several yards away within a few seconds, they surmise.
Despite searching for over 2 to 3 km along both sides of the river, police could not trace Manvi. The river water enters Ethulabad tank near Ghatkesar. Till this point, there is continuous flow of water downstream.
“There is no other way to trace the child except searching downstream. For this, boats are being brought. Using them, searches will start on Friday morning,” said the L.B. Nagar Inspector P. Srinivas Reddy. Swimmers and rescue team members will go in the boats and search her downstream.
They would search the thorny bushes, grass and huge rocks to find if the toddler has gotten stuck there.
Meanwhile, confusion prevailed over jurisdiction of the point, where the baby slipped into water, and who should take up investigation of the case.
Some police officials said the area from Uppal Rotary to the bridge on Musi river at Nagole comes under Uppal police station limits. Interestingly, the Uppal police didn’t come to the spot even as their counterparts of neighbouring L.B. Nagar rushed to the area and took up rescue operations.