Failure to heed warnings cost two revellers their lives, while a third was feared drowned and one girl was rescued by the Community Guards at the R.K. Beach here on Wednesday.
An eight-member group from Kurmannapalem went to the R.K. Beach around 3 p.m. to spend the evening. Members of the Community Guards Voluntary Organisation (CGVO), who were on duty at the beach, cautioned them against entering the water in view of the increasing number of drowning cases.
After the volunteers left the place to keep vigil on other visitors, four members of the group who are all related – Katari Lovaraju (40), his daughter Geeta (15), his brother Katari Siva (21) and Lovaraju’s brother-in-law Mulugu Mahesh (20) – entered the sea for a bath. They shrieked for help as they were pulled into the deep by the strong currents.
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The volunteers rushed to the spot and managed to rescue Geeta and Lovaraju.
They were rushed to the King George Hospital for treatment. Lovaraju died while undergoing treatment at the hospital, while Geeta was said to be out of danger. Boats of the Coast Guard, Marine Police and fishermen participated in the search for the missing persons.
Three Town Inspector S. Appala Raju, who was at the beach, said that the group went to a relative’s house at Appanna Colony at Mindi and participated in a local festival on Tuesday night. The victims were masons and employed at various construction works.
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The body of Siva surfaced near the Submarine Museum, about half-a-kilometre away around 5:30 p.m. It was pulled ashore by the rescue workers. His relatives were seen wailing inconsolably. Mahesh could not be traced till late in the evening.
In another tragedy, two engineering students -- G. Hemanth Ravi Teja (21) and Tirumala Sairam (20) – drowned in the sea at Suryalanka beach in Guntur district on Wednesday.
Ravi Teja was fourth year engineering student in a private college at Narsaraopet and Sairam had just discontinued his second year of engineering due to personal problems.
Natives of Chilakaluripet
They were natives of Chilakaluripet and Guntur.
According to Bapatla CI Y. Rama Rao, Ravi Teja and Sairam went to the beach, along with four other friends in the evening, for a picnic and took a plunge into the sea before the others ventured into it.
They were soon sucked in by the turbulent waters even as their friends cried for help. The bodies were traced some time later and sent for post-mortem.
Bapatla rural police are investigating.