An evening stroll along the NSP canal at Danavaigudem in the town turned tragic for three Ayurveda therapists from Kerala on Sunday evening as they were swept away by swirling waters in the canal.
The trio were feared drowned in the irrigation canal.
They were identified as Sonu Parakal, 35, who originally hails from Kerala but settled in Khammam, Abhay, 25, a native of Kandanattu in Alappuzha district and Vivek, 22, of Kanchiyar in Idukki district.
Sources said that Sonu along with his 11-year-old son Sharon and five others had gone to the NSP canal site on an evening stroll.
The incident occurred when Sharon accidentally slipped into the canal. Sonu, Abhay and Vivek rushed to his rescue but the trio drowned one after another.
Pradeep, a youth who accompanied the father-son duo to the canal, rescued Sharon by bringing him out of the swirling waters to the shore safely.
Alerted by the locals, the Khanapuram Haveli police reached the spot and launched a search operation but could not trace the trio.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh joined the search operation on Monday afternoon.
"We along with the NDRF team scoured the canal up to a length of 10 km towards Venkatayapalem in two rescue boats till dusk, said Maulana, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, who accompanied the NDRF team in the search operation.
On our request, the NSP officials reduced the water flow in the canal to facilitate the search operation, he told The Hindu.
However, the trio could not be traced till reports last came in.
