Six Drown In Godavari Near Nizamabad

A two-year-old's chudakarana (tonsuring) ceremony today went horribly wrong when six of his family members drowned in the Godavari. The family had gathered at the VIP Ghat of the Sri Ram Sagar Project near Pochampadu for the ceremony.

The six victims have been identified as Bobbili Srinivas (40) and his two sons Siddharth (16) and Srikar 14, Raju (24), Yogesh (16), and Suresh (42).

The incident reportedly took place at about 10:30 am when Srikar entered the river for a ceremonial holy bath, and then began to drown. Hearing his cries, the five others jumped in, in an attempt to rescue him. They were, however, all sucked into the deeper portion of the river.

Addressing the matter, Nizamabad Deputy Commissioner of Police K C S Raghuveer said, "Following this unfortunate incident, the village board has been instructed to set up systems to warn devotees against entering the deeper parts of the river. They have also been told to put up warning signs."

The tragedy elicited responses from various leaders in Telangana including Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Roads and Buildings Minister V Prashanth Reddy, and MLC K Kavitha.

Reddy directed the relevant local-level authorities to extend support to the affected families and instructed the officials at the ghat to take precautionary measures to prevent such accidents in the future.

Kavitha also conveyed her condolences to the bereaved family, and promised to provide all the necessary help to the bereaved.