13 drown as boat capsizes in A.P. village

Four persons rescued by swimmers; one child is missing

Thirteen persons drowned, four rescued and one went missing as a boat capsized in the Y.T. Cheruvu village tank in Gooty mandal of Anantapur district on Friday evening.

Police told The Hindu that 18 persons were travelling in the country boat (teppa) in the Yerra Thimmaraju Cheruvu village tank.

Most of the victims belonged to a family which had come to the village to attend a programme at a temple in the village slated for tomorrow. “They apparently decided to go on a pleasure trip on the countryside in the village tank. Inexperience of the boatman and the alarmingly large number of passengers on the boat seem to be the primary cause for the accident,” Guntakal TDP MLA Jitender Goud told The Hindu. He was present with police officers for supervising the rescue efforts at the spot.

On being informed by the villagers, police rushed to the spot and pressed into service trained swimmers. Revenue staff and medical ambulances were arranged to assist the rescue team.

As last reports came in, bodies of three women, six girl children and four boys were fished out. Four persons, including a five-year-old girl, were rescued by swimmers. They were shifted to a hospital where their condition is learnt to be critical.

Three-year-old Siva belonging to the Y.T. Cheruvu village was still missing.

Identified

The deceased have been identified as Yerramma (30), Spandana (6), Sudhakar (4), Lakshmi (14), Lavanya (14), Durga (16), Lalitha (20), Nitin Kumar (4), Netra (6), Anantamma (30), Bunny (7), Gokul (3), Bhavani (13) – belonging to the Y.T Cheruvu and Penchulapadu villages besides Guntakal town of the Anantapur district.

The rescued were identified as Boya Raju (36), Besta Raju (25), Samanta (5) and Sai (32).

It is learnt that the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu directed Collector Pandiarajan and the Superintendent of Police S.V. Rajasekhara Babu to personally monitor the rescue efforts and give him feedback.

Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy is learnt to have expressed a sense of disbelief and grief at the death of several people in the accident.