The search for lotus flowers in a pond turned tragic for two young girls, who met with a watery grave in the lake at Kothuru Narayanapuram under Bhadrachalam rural police station limits on Friday afternoon.
The police identified the deceased as T. Sarika, 18, an Intermediate student, and Akhila, 14, a class IX student, both residents of Jagadeesh Colony in Bhadrachalam town.
Sources said that the two girls ventured into a pond near Kothuru Narayanapuram to collect lotus flowers for the ongoing Bathukamma festivities late in the afternoon. The duo subsequently drowned while trying to lay their hands on the lotus flowers floating in the water body, sources added.
The bodies of the duo were fished out from the pond and shifted to the mortuary at Bhadrachalam Area Hospital for post-mortem, said P Srinivas, SI, Bhadrachalam rural police station.
Student drownsIn a separate incident, E. Dhanunjaya Rao, 25, a B.Pharmacy student of a Hyderabad-based college, reportedly drowned in the Godavari at Nandigama village under the Bhadrachalam rural police station limits on Friday afternoon. He was taking bath in the river when the incident occurred. The deceased hailed from Gannerugoyapadu village. A case has been registered.
