About 30 school children 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 happened 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 coming to school after picking up students from nearby villages including Ramachandrapuram, Machanpally and Sugurugadda Thanda.
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“There have been heavy rains in the area for the last two days, resulting in heavy water logging under the railway bridge. The bus driver apparently could not gauge the depth of water and continued to drive the vehicle. Right under the bridge, it came to a halt as water entered the engine,” a local resident Vijay Bhaskar Reddy said.
The children, in the age group of 10-12 years, panicked and started crying, as the water level reached up to the windows of the bus. Within minutes, local farmers and other passers-by on the route swung into action and rescued all the students by carrying them in their hands.
{{/usCountry}}The children, in the age group of 10-12 years, panicked and started crying, as the water level reached up to the windows of the bus. Within minutes, local farmers and other passers-by on the route swung into action and rescued all the students by carrying them in their hands.
{{/usCountry}}“Later, the bus was also pulled out with the help of a rope tied to a tractor. The bus driver said there was not so much water under the bridge, when he drove the vehicle in the morning to pick up the students. So, he thought he could pass through the water in the return journey as well,” Reddy said.
Telangana has been witnessing torrential 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 received heavy rainfall.
According to the state development and planning society, the average rainfall in the state in the last 24 hours was 2.18 cm, as against the normal rainfall of 0.87 mm, an excess of 151%. The highest rainfall recorded in the state in the last 24 hours was 19cm at Atmakur in Suryapet district, followed by 13.9cm in Thungathurthi, 13.2cm at Nadigudem, 12.3cm at Nelakondapalle and Bonakal in Khammam district.