What was meant to be an adventurous trip for six men from Hyderabad turned into a tragedy on the morning of December 7. Five men, aged between 20 and 25, died after their car plunged into a pond. The deceased were identified as Harsha, Dinesh, Vamsi, Balu, and Vinay, all residents of RTC Colony in LB Nagar. Only one person, Medaboina Manikanta, managed to survive the accident.
The group of friends had set out on a late-night drive from Hyderabad to Valigonda on December 6. Around 4.30 am, their car veered off the road near Jalalpur in the Bhoodan Pochampally mandal, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, and plunged into a pond. The police believe the driver failed to notice a sharp left curve, mistakenly thinking the road continued straight.
Seated beside the driver, Manikanta escaped by breaking a window and recounted the harrowing ordeal to authorities. He revealed that the car carried four men in the back seat and two in the front.
Emergency services were alerted through a Dial 100 call at 5.27 am. Though responders arrived quickly, the five passengers could not be saved. The police recovered the submerged vehicle. The bodies of the deceased were retrieved and sent to Bhongir Government Hospital for postmortem.
The police have registered a case and are investigating the exact circumstances leading to the accident.