Andhra Pradesh: Toll in Suryalanka beach tragedy mounts to six

GUNTUR: The marine police found the bodies of the three boys who got washed away in the Bay of Bengal at Suryalanka Beach in the Bapatla district on Wednesday, taking the toll to six. As many as seven boys aged between 13 and 17 from Singh Nagar in Vijayawada were washed away due to heavy tides while taking bath in the sea on Tuesday morning. 

While the police saved one boy, three boys  — Sthambhala Kailash, Chintala  Siddhu, and Geddam Abhi —were found dead. The police continued the search operation for 36 hours to find the three other missing boys identified as Phani, Raghava and Dasu. 

It may be recalled that three persons drowned on the beach in June. Following that, district collector Vijaya Kumari and SP Vakul Jindal had taken a special initiative and set up a healthcare centre at the beach to provide emergency healthcare to people. Along with this, 10 swimmers were also appointed in addition to local marine police as a precautionary measure. 

These swimmers are always available every 200 metres and keep a watch on the tourists. However, as they were not receiving monthly wages, the swimmers were not attending to duty for the past 10 days. Superintendent of Police, Bapatla district, Vakul Jindal said that due to various reasons, the swimmers were not present at the beach when this tragic incident happened. 

Officials are taking steps to pay them salaries without any delay, he added. Along with this, the number of police personnel has increased at the beach. Police personnel is placed at every 100 and 200 metres, he claimed.