ONGOLE: In a swift rescue operation, Prakasam district police and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) saved 121 labourers who were trapped in flooded tobacco seedling nurseries at Chodavaram village in Kondapi mandal. The nearby Musi vagu stream overflowed due to heavy inflows from catchment areas, inundating the low-lying nursery fields and forcing the workers to move to a nearby hillock for safety.
The stranded workers, who hailed from rural areas around Rajahmundry in East Godavari district, had been brought to work in tobacco nurseries owned by farmers of Vennuru, Chinna Venkannapalem, Muppavaram (Kondapi mandal), and Ponduru (Tangutur mandal). They were staying in makeshift tents near the fields as per their employers’ directions.
When floodwaters entered the area on Wednesday evening, the labourers’ shelters were submerged. The nursery owners alerted government authorities, following which police, revenue, and SDRF teams rushed to the spot. After locating the group on a rocky hillock, rescue personnel used a Gemini boat to evacuate all 121 workers safely. They were shifted to a nearby rehabilitation centre and provided food and drinking water.
Kanigiri DSP Sai Eswar Yashwanth, Ongole RDO Lakshmi Prasanna, Kondapi CI Somasekhar, SIs Prem Kumar, Hanok, SDRF staff supervised the operation.