Maha Shivratri turned tragic for families of five youths in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district on Wednesday as they drowned in the Godavari river.
Bodies of three of the youth were recovered while the search was on for two others.
The incident occurred at Tadipudi in Tallapudi mandal of the district when a group of 11 students, all aged under 20, had gone to the river for a bath early morning.
The youth had no idea of the depth and started drowning.
According to eyewitnesses, they tried to save each other and in the process five of them were drowned. Six youths managed to swim to safety.
Alerted by the locals, police rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation with the help of swimmers. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and fire service personnel also joined the rescue effort.
Later, the bodies of three of the youth were recovered by the NDRF personnel. The deceased were identified as P. Durga Prasad (19), Tirumalashetti Pavan (17) and P. Sai Krishna (19).
The search was on for G. Akash (19) and Anishetty Pavan (19).
The youth were intermediate or degree students in Kovvur, Tallapudi and Rajamahendravaram and hailed from the same village.
As Wednesday was a holiday for their colleges on account of Maha Shivratri, they decided to go to the river for a bath. Survivors said after taking the bath, they had planned to go to a temple for puja on Maha Shivratri.
The body of Durga Prasad was shifted to a government hospital for autopsy. Families of the missing students rushed to the spot.
Senior police and revenue officials were supervising the search operations.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Deva Kumar and Kovvur Revenue Divisional Officer Rani Susmita were among the officials who rushed to the spot.
