3 drown in Godavari waters in Andhra Pradesh

Generally, water level in the river is not much in summer, but there are some spots in the river, where the depth is up to 20 feet, said a police officer.

Three persons drowned in Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district on Sunday evening while taking a bath, the police said on Monday.

Godavari river is very deep at some locations at the drowning spot in the West Godavari district. Locals alerted the police when they saw the youths drown. (AP/Representative image)

The bodies of Perishetty Satyanarayana (22), Pattapu Hemanth (25) and Perugu Somaraju (25) – all from Chagallu village – were retrieved several hours later from the water at Goshpada Teertham, a pilgrim centre on the banks of the river at Kovvur town on Monday afternoon.

According to Kovvur (urban) inspector of police M Satyanarayana Murthy, six people came to Kovvur to watch the afternoon show of a newly-released Telugu film. While returning to their village, they stopped at Goshpada Teertham to bathe in the river.

“When three of them went back to the town to get some snacks after the bath, the other three entered the water again. Apparently, one person, who did not realise the depth of the water at one of the spots in the river, drowned and the other two drowned while trying to rescue him,” the inspector said. Their friends returned later in the evening when the search to find their friends had begun. They told the police that their group had stopped there to take bath after watching a movie.

Locals alerted the police when they saw the men drown. Police reached the spot along with expert swimmers; however, they could not locate the victims as it was getting dark.

“We retrieved the bodies this afternoon and sent them to the local government hospital for post-mortem. We have booked a case of accidental death and are investigating,” the inspector added.