Five boys go missing in Krishna river at Penamaluru, three bodies retrieved

Five boys who went to bathe in the Krishna river went missing and three bodies were retrieved and search operations being carried out for the rest. The tragic incident took place on Friday in Yanamalakuduru village of Penamaluru mandal of Krishna district.

The victims who were identified as Sheikh Baji (15), Sheikh Hussain (15), Thota Kamesh (15), Maddala Balu (17), Inakollu Gunasekhar (14), Pinninti Srinu and Sheikh Qasim Ali of Darshipet Ambedkar Nagar in Patamata area of Vijayawada said in their homes that they were going to play and reached the Krishna river jetty at Yanamalakuduru. After playing cricket there for a while, they walked three and a half kilometers from Yanamalakuduru paya and reached the banks of Pathur Etipaya under Tadepalli of Guntur district. Except the youngest Srinu, the remaining six went down to bathe in the river.

Seeing that they were all drowning, Shrinu shouted loudly and told the local cattle breeders and fishermen who immediately jumped into the river and managed to rescue Qasim Ali. The remaining five children drowned and went missing. On learning this information, Penamaluru police and revenue personnel rushed to the spot.

The bodies of Inakollu Gunasekhar and Thota Kamesh were found in the Shivlingala embankment area with the help of swimmers and rescue personnel. Sheikh Hussain, Sheikh Baji and Maddala Balu were not found. Search operations were stopped as it was already dark. Penamaluru CI Govindaraju registered a case and took up the investigation.

On the other hand, when the information about the incident came to light, Vijayawada East Constituency YSRCP in-charge Devineni Avinash spoke to the Collector on the phone and alerted the administration. The party ranks have been advised to support the affected families together. He said that he would take the matter of the incident to the attention of the government and stand by the affected families.