E-Paper
School bus stranded in Telangana flash flood, 30 children rescued
The bus belonging to Bhashyam Techno School in Mahabubnagar town was on the way to the school after picking up students from nearby village areas, including Ramachandrapuram, Machanpally and Sugurugadda Thanda.
At least 30 schoolchildren had a miraculous escape after their school bus got stranded in a flash flood while passing through a railway-under-bridge in Telangana’s Mahabubnagar district on Friday morning.
The incident occurred at Sugurugadda Thanda tribal hamlet between Machanpally and Koduru villages on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru railway route, about 20km from Mahabubnagar town.
The bus belonging to Bhashyam Techno School in Mahabubnagar town was on the way to the school after picking up students from nearby village areas, including Ramachandrapuram, Machanpally and Sugurugadda Thanda.
“There have been heavy rains in the area for the last two days, resulting in heavy waterlogging under the railway bridge. The bus driver was unable to gauge the depth of water and continued to wade the vehicle through water. Right under the bridge, it came to a halt as water had entered the engine,” a local resident Vijay Bhaskar Reddy said.
The children, in the age group of 10-12 years, got anxious and started crying, as the water level reached up to the bus windows. Within minutes, local farmers and other passersby on the route swung into action and rescued all the students.
“Later, the bus was also pulled out with the help of a rope tied to a tractor. The driver said when he drove in the morning to pick up the students, there was not much water under the bridge.So, he thought he will be able to cross the bridge on return as well,” Reddy said.
Telangana has been witnessing copious rains for the last 48 hours due to active monsoon. Several districts, including Khammam, Suryapet, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mahabubabad, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Yadadri-Bhongir, Kamareddy, Jangaon, Rajanna Sircilla and Jagtial have received heavy rains.
According to the state development and planning society, the average rain in the state in the last 24 hours was recorded 2.18 cm , as against the normal rainfall of 0.87 mm, an excess by 151%. The highest rain recorded in the state in the last 24 hours was 19 cm at Atmakur in Suryapet district, followed by 13.9 cm in Thungathurthi, 13.2 cm at Nadigudem, 12.3 cm at Nelakondapalle and Bonakal in Khammam district.
