RAJAHMUNDRY:The last thing nine-year-old Egala Sai Kiran remembers is that the four-wheeler he and his family members were travelling in fall into River Godavari from Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage. He saw his relatives cling to one another and cry for help. Minutes later, he woke up from the heap of blood-smeared bodies of his near and dear ones.
The only person, who responded to Sai Kiran’s cries, was his elder sister Sandhya. The young boy managed to get out of the vehicle from the broken window pane and tried hard to get his sister out, but in vain. It was only after some passersby heard his cries that the police and the ‘108’ ambulance service were contacted.
Sandhya, along with her brother Sai Kiran, who suffered multiple fractures, were rescued from the vehicle. She was shifted to the Rajahmundry Government Hospital where she was declared brought dead.
Sai Kiran and Sandhya spent anxious moments in the darkness for more than three hours since their vehicle plunged into the river. After being rescued, the boy was apparently in a shock and could not recall the incident for several hours. He kept mumbling, “My mother and father did not move. Only ‘akka’ (elder sister) was moving and asked me to get out of the vehicle. I tried to pull her out, but she was stuck amid others (who were all dead),” the boy recollected the horrific incident, after the police personnel broke the news of the death of his family members.
Those who saw the nine-year-old boy hailed him for his brave efforts to rescue his sister. Their hearts went out for him as he cried for his family in the hospital bed, even as he was unable to bear the pain of multiple fractures that he suffered in the accident. Exhausted after a few hours and as the sedatives injected by the hospital staff started functioning, the boy fell asleep and did not wake up till evening.
The staff of Sri Vidya Niketan, the school at Mosaiahpeta where Sai Kiran and his sister Sandhya were pursuing their studies, gathered at the school despite the holidays.
The teachers said that both the children were active and enthusiastic in studies. “Sai Kiran would be in Class III this academic year. All the staff members along with the school management are planning to come together to help him, both emotionally and financially, in completing his school education,” said a school teacher.
Sai Kiran, who was having fun with his entire family at the end of his summer vacation till Friday evening, is now resting on the hospital bed at Rajahmundry Government Hospital, even as the final rites of his parents and his elder sister were performed at their native village of Mosaiahpeta.