Five students drowned in a river in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district on the evening of Monday, January 10, police said. The incident occurred when the five young boys were bathing in the Krishna river, Nandigama Deputy Superintendent of Police G Nageswara Reddy said, according to PTI. The deceased students have been identified as Ajay (12), Charan (13), Balayesu (12), Rakesh (12) and Sunny (12), he said. They hailed from Yeturu village in Krishna district, police said, adding they all were studying in Class 7 in a government school.
A rescue operation was undertaken to trace the bodies, and a case has been registered in the matter, they said. On Tuesday, January 11, rescue workers recovered bodies of all the five students, according to IANS. They were missing since Monday afternoon when they were trying to learn how to swim in the Munneru rivulet, a tributary of the Krishna river near Eturu. They were all studying at the Eturu Zilla Parishad High School.
The students who were at home due to Sankranti holidays went to the rivulet on January 11 in the afternoon. Their parents had gone to work in agricultural fields. According to the police, local fishermen warned them not to go into the deep waters as there was a chance of drowning but they ignored the warning and apparently got caught in a whirlpool. The fishermen tried to save them but in vain.
They then informed the police, which sought the help of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). The NDRF team with the help of police and revenue departments continued search operations till late Monday night.
In December 2021, five students and a teacher of a Vedic school drowned in the Krishna river in Guntur district. They had gone for a bath in the river near Madipadu village of Acchampet mandal after completing their day classes, and it was suspected suspected that the students were inadvertently caught in a whirlpool in the river and drowned.