Six feared drowned as SUV plunges into canal in Telangana’s Suryapet

The speeding Mahendra Scorpio SUV rammed into the railing of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway (NH 65) and fell off the road into the canal which carries Krishna water from Nagarjunasagar reservoir to irrigate crops in Telangana and parts of Andhra.

Six people were feared drowned after a car they were travelling by plunged into a canal in Telangana’s Suryapet district late on Friday night, the police said.

They, along with five others, left for their colleague’s marriage at Nadigudem in the morning. (HT image)

The incident happened at Munagala of Nadigudem block closer to Kodad in Suryapet district at around 10 pm. The speeding Mahendra Scorpio SUV (Registration number AP 31 BP 338) rammed into the railing of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway (NH 65) and fell off the road into the canal which carries Krishna water from Nagarjunasagar reservoir to irrigate crops in Telangana and parts of Andhra.

The SUV was carrying six people – Abdul Aziz (45), Rajesh (29), Jhonson (33), Santosh Kumar (23), Naresh (35) and Pavan Kumar (23) – all employees of a private hospital at A S Rao Nagar in Hyderabad.

They, along with five others, left for their colleague’s marriage at Nadigudem in the morning. After taking their dinner, they started back to Hyderabad in two separate vehicles – six of them in the SUV and five others in a Tata Indica car. But as they were trying to cross the bridge over Nagarjunasagar left canal, the Scorpio vehicle lost its control, hit the railing, overturned and plunged into the canal.

“The other friends who were following them in another vehicle immediately alerted the locals, who in turn informed the police. As the water in the canal was flowing at a high speed and it was pretty dark all along the canal, the car could not be located,” Munagala inspector Shiva Shankar Goud told reporters.

The collector asked the irrigation department authorities to stop water release from Nagarjunasgar into the left canal, so that the vehicle could be traced.