6 youths drown in Nellore tank

Nellore: Six youngsters drowned in Chinna Cheruvu of Ratnagiri of Thoderu Panchayat when their boat capsized on Sunday. Their bodies were fished out on Monday. The six were part of a 10-member group which entered the pond on Sunday, police said, adding that four of them managed to escape to safety. Incidentally, all of them knew how to swim but swampy conditions in the pond meant six got stuck under the water, leading to their death, the police said. The deceased were: Alli Srinath (16), Challa Prasanth Kumar (26), Batta Raghu (25), Pamujula Balaji (20), Mannuru Kalyan (30) and Pati Surendra (16).

The police said the youngsters took out the boat without informing the caretaker of the pond. "Only four of the 10 persons who went into the pond in a country boat made of iron, which is used to feed fish, managed to come out," Nellore SP Ch Vijaya Rao, said. According to the SP, the youngsters had previously also taken out the boat a few times without informing the pond caretaker.

"While trying to take a U-turn by navigating with the oar, the boat capsized, leading to flooding and all of them jumping into the water. However, the bed of the pond was slushy and immobilised some of them," said the SP who visited the spot.

The four who escaped were Onteru Mahesh (19), Onteru Mahindra (20), Enugu Vishnu (18) and A Kiran (18), he said. "All of them belong to the same village. Five bodies were recovered while a search is on for the body of Surendra," said Nellore Rural DSP P Veeranjaneya Reddy.

He said a case of unnatural death under Section 174 of Cr Pc has been booked at Podalakuru mandal. A pall of gloom descended on the native village of Agriculture Minister K Govardhan Reddy, who was on tour in Kerala. He immediately rushed to the village soon after hearing the tragedy. Meanwhile, the grandmother of Srinath, died due to a heart attack at BR Palem village on hearing the news of her grandson's death.