VIJAYAWADA: Five out of six school boys of class 8 were rescued from drowning in the Krishna river at Pavitra Sangamam Ghat in Ibrahimpatnam mandal of NTR district on Friday. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) continued their search for the missing youth, Lokesh. The six are students of Zilla Parishad High School at Ibrahimpatnam, the local police said.
According to police inspector Palivela Srinu, the boys went to the ferry point around 9 am for a swim as it was a holiday on account of Janmashtami. Shortly after venturing into the river, they were drawn by the strong current due to heavy inflows from upstream.
“Noticing this, the nearby fishermen and SDRF personnel immediately rushed to the boys’ help. They successfully rescued five of the six boys even as search is underway for Lokesh,” said the inspector.
He further said SDRF teams would continue their search operation on Saturday.
In another similar incident, two youngsters were swept away by the river Krishna, which has been flowing dangerously, when they were reportedly cleaning a bullock cart on the river bank in Kosuruvaripalem village under Mopidevi mandal.
The two youngsters were identified as Kagithala Hasanth (22) and Meka Venkatesh (20) and SDRF teams carried out searches in the river for them.“A total of four youngsters were pulled by the river. Two people managed to swim back to safety,” said the Mopidevi police.