A baby, just one-and-a-half-years old, slipped from the arms of her father and fell into the Musi river at Nagole on Thursday afternoon. It was one of those careless moments that cost the family their precious daughter.
Meghshyam Reddy (42) had been to the bridge over the river along with the girl, Manvi, and son Prameg (10). He was showing the river to his son while holding the baby in his arms. P Srinivas Reddy, inspector, LB Nagar police station, said Meghshyam was standing close to the railing when suddenly his daughter moved. Before he could hold her again, she slipped from his arms and fell straight into the river.
Her body couldn’t be retrieved even by 9 p.m. Expert swimmers were pressed into service but none of them could find the body. As it turned dark, the rescue operation had to be called off.
The search will continue Friday morning. Apart from the fire department, the irrigation department, municipal authorities, and the tourism department have been asked to help by providing a boat.
Megashyam is a resident of Sahara Estates at Vanasthalipuram. The incident caused a huge commotion on the bridge, as curious passersby stopped vehicles to find out what was happening, and the situation resulted in a huge traffic jam so much so that more than a dozen Border Security Force (BSF) personnel had to be deployed on the bridge. Shiva, one of the swimmers, told Express the spot where Manvi fell had a strong current and felt she probably had been swept away for half a km.
A missing case has been registered, and the LB Nagar police is still investigating the incident.