3 medical students swept away in flash floods in Andhra
Two medical students were swept away in the flash floods of a waterfall and search is on for another student who went missing in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Sunday
Two medical students were swept away in the flash floods of a waterfall and search is on for another student who went missing in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Sunday, the police said on Monday.
The bodies of Kosireddy Sowmya (21) of Bobbili in Parvathipuram Manyam district and B Amrutha (21) of Bapatla district were recovered from the flood waters on Monday morning. “We are still on the lookout for another student – Ch Haradeep of Markapuram in Prakasam district,” Alluri Sitarama Raju district superintendent of police (SP) Amit Bardar said.
He said: “14 medical students pursuing second year MBBS course at Asram Medical College in Eluru had gone on a picnic to Maredumilli forests in the Eastern Ghats on Sunday. At around 4 pm, they reached Jalatarangini Waterfalls located on Maredumilli-Chintoor road, a popular hangout for the youth.”
“They got into water and taking pictures, when there was a heavy rain in the upstream of the waterfall. It resulted in sudden gushing of water from the waterfalls, leading to flash floods. While nine students managed to quickly reach the shore, five others who were close to the waterfalls were swept away,” he said.
The rest of students alerted the police, who rushed to the spot along with forest department staff and managed to rescue two of them – Harini Priya and Gayatri Pushpa. They were shifted to hospital and discharged after first aid.
“However, the three others could not be traced due to dense forests and heavy rains. We have summoned teams of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) to conduct search operations in the waterfalls,” he said.
On Monday morning, the teams managed to recover bodies of two students and are continuing the search operations for the third student, he added.
The Maredumilli police booked a case of accidental death over the incident and are investigating.