KAKINADA: The body of a woman–identified as Galla Nagamani, one of the seven people feared drowned in the boat capsize near Pasuvula Lanka of I Polavaram mandal on Saturday, got washed ashore at Pushkar Ghat at Komaragiri in East Godavari district on Sunday evening. Earlier it was reported that only six girls were missing, but later the number of missing increased to seven.
The 35-year old Nagamani along with six girls - Kondepudi Ramya (13), Polisetti Veeramanisha (15), Sunkara Sreeja (15), Tirupati Priya Bhairava Murthy (13), Polisetti Anusha Macharao (14) and Polisetti Suchitra Macharao (12) - were found missing after the boat mishap and they were feared drowned. Despite the inclement weather and increasing flood levels in Godavari river, search and rescue operations for the remaining six people continued till 6 pm and later due to poor visibility and increasing flood levels, the officials decided to stop operations for the day and resume it on Monday.
Nearly 200 personnel of NDRF, SDRF, Fire Services Department and Navy searched the river for bodies from the accident spot at Pasuvula Lanka and the confluence of river and sea at Yanam since early hours of the day. Due to bad weather conditions, they had to halt the search operation twice. District Collector Karthikeya Mishra and Superintendent of Police Vishal Gunni monitored the search operations.
“Though the search operations have been halted, lookouts are posted at Edurulnaka Bridge; floodlights are also placed on the pillars of the bridge. We are making every effort to hand over the bodies to their families,” Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu told mediapersons in the evening.