Six persons, including five children, drowned while two more persons are still missing in Sileru river when a country boat reportedly capsized in the river in the AOB region, under Chitrakonda police station limits of Odisha, on Tuesday morning. As per the latest reports, six bodies have been recovered.
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All the victims reportedly hail from two villages of Odisha and the incident occurred when they were heading to their native villages from Jonnalamamidi on the Andhra side.
According to Sub Inspector of Sileru Police Station Ranjith, about 35 persons had arrived from Hyderabad to Sileru check-post in a vehicle and reached Jonnalamamidi on foot. The persons work as labourers in Hyderabad and were on their way to Guntawada and Konduguda villages in Odisha. They took the river route to avoid the police checking at the Odisha border, due to lockdown and fear of being quarantined, the police said.
The labourers hired boats from Jonnalamamidi. The first batch of 17 members took two boats and reached their village. The second batch, with 18 persons boarded two boats with nine in each. One boat capsized close to the shore. A few from the sunken boat swam to the other boat and tried to board it and while doing so the boat capsized. Of the 18, 10 swam to the shore, while eight went missing, including six children.
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According to Superintendent of Police B. Krishna Rao, the bodies of three girls, two boys and one adult woman were recoverd by evening.
The location of the accident is in the AOB (Andhra Odisha Border) region, and the banned CPI (Maoist) holds some sway.