In another shocking incident, two people – a 26-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter – died in a boat accident in the Krishna River on Friday. The incident took place near the Borupalem sand reach of Thollur mandal in Andhra Pradesh’s Amaravati region.
According to officials, the victims hail from Ibrahimpatnam in Krishna district. They said that Saida Raju, 28, and his family had come fishing on Thursday night as was their regular practice.
“The family spread their nets and fell asleep. But another boat, carrying sand, crashed into their boat,” said Sudhaker Rao, Tulluru Inspector.
While Saida Raju was able to jump off the boat to safety, his wife Saida Madhavi and their daughter Kavya, died in the accident.
Raju swam to the banks nearby, and was able to inform the authorities of the accident.
“We got the news at around 5.45 in the morning. We rushed to supervise rescue operations,” said the Inspector.
They enlisted the help of professional swimmers to find the bodies in the river.
A case has been registered against the driver of the boat carrying sand for causing death by negligence.
When TNM asked if the boat had permission to excavate sand from the river, the officer said, “They claim they have it, we are looking into it.”
In November 2017, as many as 21 tourists died in a boat accident in Krishna Rivers' Pavitra sangamam.
This incident earned the government widespread criticism for not monitoring private boats operating on the river.
Less than two weeks ago, another boat accident claimed as many as 19 lives in the Godavari River in Vadapalli of East Godavari.
Recently, AP Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar said that the government is considering forming an inland water transport regulatory authority, which will regulate all forms of water transportation in all water bodies of the state’s jurisdiction. This development came in the wake of ever-increasing boat accidents.