A joyful holiday outing ended in tragedy on Friday when five engineering students drowned in the Godavari river near Veleru village, Eluru district. The students were part of a seven-member group from SRM University, Amaravati, who had come to the area to celebrate Ugadi holidays.
The group was taking photographs close to the riverbank when they lost their footing and fell into the water. Two students who could swim managed to reach safety. The other five were carried away and could not be saved.
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Victims, survivors and government response
As per the report of the Times of India, search efforts led to the recovery of two bodies, those of Podicheti Abhiram and Cheguntla Srikar Gupta. Three students are still missing: Gone Teja and Daggubati Navadeep, both residents of Vuyyur, and Pasam Satish Kumar from Madanapalle. The recovered bodies were sent to Bhadrachalam government hospital for postmortem examination.
The two survivors, Chunduti Deepak from Kalidindi and Gadla Harsha from Vizianagaram, were admitted to hospital. Both are being treated for trauma.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed deep shock over the loss of young lives. He instructed concerned authorities to press on with the search operation until all remaining bodies are retrieved. The state government, he said, would stand firmly behind the affected families and provide all possible assistance.
What led to the drowning?
According to the report of the Times of India, the seven second-year BTech students arrived at the spot, located on the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border, at around 11.30 am. Polavaram DSP M Venkateswara Rao confirmed the timeline and said the students were picnicking and photographing the area before entering the river.
A sand ramp was visible close to where they stood. Police believe the students thought the water near it was shallow and waded in without realising the actual depth. The river was dangerously deep at that location.
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Fishermen working nearby heard the students calling for help and rushed toward them. Despite their efforts, they could not reach the students in time. Police arrived at the scene soon after and deployed trained swimmers to search the river. SDRF teams joined the operation shortly thereafter.
