In a shocking incident, a six-year-old girl fell into an open drain in Visakhapatnam on Thursday evening and has been missing since.
The girl, identified as Athiti, was a student of a private school, and stepped into the drain when she was getting into a car after her tuition near Dr. V.S. Krishna Government College in HB Colony.
She was swept away instantly.
The open drain, which connects to a major drain some distance away, was inundated following heavy downpour in the evening and so the girl may not have noticed it, a report in The Hindu adds.
The report also adds that the accident occurred at about 6 pm but authorities could not arrange for any equipment until 9 pm.
Rescue operations are underway from Thursday evening by the fire brigade, locals, and civic authorities, but they haven't been able to track her yet.
Athithi is said to be the youngest of three siblings and her father is a software engineer.
The major drain then flows out into the sea and the police have said that swimmers were being requisitioned to go along the drain.