Tirupati: Woman devotee stuck in vehicle dies in flash floods

Tirupati: In a tragic incident, Sandhya (30) a devotee from Karnataka drowned after the vehicle got stuck in a flash flood in which she was travelling with her family to Tirumala.

The incident took place at the railway under bridge (RUB) near West Church in the city during early hours of Saturday. The incident created a flutter across the State and jolted the pilgrim city.

Tirupati on Friday night witnessed heavy rains for about two hours following many low-lying areas, including the RUB were inundated.

It may be noted here that, with the rail over bridge (ROB) near SV University is under construction, the pilgrims coming from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have to take the diversion on the bypass road to pass through Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam and RUB to reach the Alipiri tollgate to go to Tirumala.

According to SV University police, the eight-member family from Mudigere town in Raichur were coming by an SUV to Tirumala for darshan.

The driver, who was unaware of the depth of the gushing waters, ventured into the flood water. The vehicle got stuck in the waters midway. Much to the panic of them, the doors of the vehicle got jammed and they could not come out of the vehicle. There was about eight feet of water and the vehicle got fully submerged in the water. The pouring rain and the darkness added more to their misery.

Fear-stricken family members' continuously raised alarm. People who were nearby and auto drivers informed the police. Meanwhile, some of the youth from the area ventured into the swirling waters, risking their lives and saved four of them, by pulling them out of the vehicle to safety, before

the police arrived.

The police, who reached the RUB, rescued remaining persons in the vehicle but found Sandhya already

dead due to asphyxia, according to Circle Inspector Ravindranath. Police rushed a child Vinmayee (2)

who was in critical condition in an ambulance to Ruia hospital, he added.

The others who survived the flash flood were identified as Hareesh (Sandhya's husband), Suvarna

(34), Vinod Kumar (35), Bhagyashree (54), Sowmya (28), Sujith (24) and driver Hemanth (35). Hareesh, who is working as a software engineer in Bengaluru, married Sandhya two years back. The body was sent to SVRR government hospital for post- mortem.

The driver Hemanth was taken into custody for enquiry by the SVU police who registered the case, took up investigation. Calling it an unfortunate incident, Circle Inspector Ravindranath said precious life could have been saved if the driver was a bit cautious.

He said the flood waters receded in about 30 minutes. Tirupati MP along with Railway officials and City MLA B Karunakar Reddy along with Corporation Commissioner PS Girisha inspected the RUB on Saturday.

MLA Karunakar Reddy said that the incident was most unfortunate and conveyed his condolences to the

victim's family. He assured that immediate measures will be taken up to avoid such incidents in future.