srinivasa.apparasu@htlive.com
HYDERABAD: The craze for taking selfies proved fatal for five engineering students, including two girls, who drowned in a reservoir in Warangal district of Telangana on Saturday.
The deceased have been identified as Patti Sravya Reddy, Pollineni Vinootn, Karne Sivasai, P Sivasaikrishna and Sagar Reddy. They were third-year computer engineering students of Vagdevi Engineering College, Warangal.
According to the police, six students went to Dharmasagar reservoir, a popular tourist attraction in the district, in the morning for an outing. One of the girls, Ramya Pratyusha, tried to take a selfie with the others, while standing on a rock in the middle of the water body. However, she slipped and fell into the water.
In order to save her, the other students jumped into the water, one after the other. While Pratyusha managed get back to the shore, the others drowned.
“Unfortunately, the water level in the reservoir was too high and none of them had gauged the depth of the water. As a result, they drowned,” Dharmasagar circle inspector Rajaiah said.
Locals alerted police about the incident, who reached the spot along with swimmers. After searching for a couple of hours, the five bodies were fished out.