VIJAYAWADA: A weekend reunion of an extended family turned tragic when a boat carrying the members capsized in the Krishna river near Konuru village in Achampet mandal of Palnadu district on Sunday. Four persons, including three children, died in the incident, and five others managed to swim to safety.
The deceased were identified as Gandham Sandhya (9), Gandham Saini (10), Battula Karthik (12) and Konata Chaitanya (28).
According to the police, the family members of Gandham Gangayya had gathered at Konuru to spend the final weekend of summer vacation. Gangayya has a son and a daughter, both of them are married. Sandhya and Saini were the daughters of his son, while Karthik was the son of his daughter. Chaitanya, the other person died in the boat capsize, was a relative of Gangayya.
After the end of the family reunion, nine members boarded the ill-fated country boat to reach the opposite bank of the river. While getting down after reaching the other side of the river, all the passengers reportedly moved to one side, resulting in the boat capsize.
Naidu orders inquiry and announces Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to kin
Having learnt about the boat capsize, police rushed to the spot along with rescue personnel, and launched a search operation for the drowned.
All the four bodies were retrieved from the river. The bodies were sent for postmortem. A case was registered.
Konuru plunged into grief following the tragic death of four members of a family. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed grief over the death of four persons in the boat capsize.
From Singapore, he reviewed the situation with senior officials, and announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the victims.
He ordered an inquiry into the incident, and directed authorities to take measures to prevent such boat mishaps in the future.
Following the Chief Minister’s directions, District Collector Kritika Shukla visited the hospital, and handed over the ex gratia to the families of deceased.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed deep grief over the boat capsize.
He conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.
