Help came in hours later, claim Hyderabad students who survived Himachal Pradesh river tragedy

9 Jun 2014 8:56 AM IST

4 bodies found, 20 still missing. Was water in River Beas released without warning?

Help came in hours later, claim Hyderabad students who survived Himachal Pradesh river tragedy

Search and rescue operations underway at Pandoh Dam in Himachal Pradesh. (Photo: Twitter)

Mandi: Rescuers on Monday pulled out bodies of five Hyderabad-based engineering students, who were washed away in the swirling waters of Beas river along with 20 classmates whose fate is not known as Chief minister Virbhadra Singh ordered a magisterial inquiry and suspension of Resident Engineer of Larji hydropower project.

The Home Ministry has sought a report from the state on the incident in which 25 students, who were taking photographs on the bank of Beas, were washed away last evening when the discharge of water in the river suddenly increased due to release of water from the reservoir of 126 MW Larji hydropower project.

Telangana home minister N Narsimha Reddy called the incident tragic. Reddy said, “Without siren they shouldnt have released water, this is tragic. Will decide future course of action.”

Teams of SSB, assisted by police, homeguard and local divers and rafters intensified search operations in the area from Thalout to Pandoh dam.

Five bodies including that of three boys and two girls have been recovered, SSB officials at Control Room at Mandi said.

Officials fear that the chances of survival of the missing students is slim as the river current is strong and presence of silt and waste.

"The high discharge of water and shortage of boats is causing some problem but we have list of missing persons and hope to recover the bodies. Our jawans are moving in boats and strict vigil is being maintained along the banks of Beas and NDRF teams and divers from BBMB have also reached the spot," the officials said.

Taking serious note of the matter, the Chief minister has ordered a magisterial inquiry by Divisional commissioner, Mandi, to fix responsibility for the tragedy and suggest measure to stop recurrence of such incidents.

The Chief Minister has also ordered suspension of the Resident Engineer and a case has been registered against the staff for negligence and not forewarning the people before releasing water from the dam.

Terming the incident as unfortunate, the Chief Minister said, "Students had come with teachers. I think the teachers should have taken precaution that the students did not go to the riverbed. But anyway I do not want to blame anybody".

The names students of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, struck by Himachal tragedy are:

1. Akulla Vijetha

2. Ashish Mantha

3. Bairineni Ritwik

4. Banothu Rambabu

5. Dasari Sreenidhi

6. Devashish Bose

7. Gampala Aishwarya

8. Baswaraj Sandeep

9. Gonoor Arvind Kumar

10. Kalluri Sree Harsha

11. Kasarla Rishita Reddy

12. Laxmi Gayatri Appanabotla

13. M Siva Prakash Varma

14. M Vishnu Vardhan Reddy

15. Macharla Akhil

16. Mittapally Akhil

17. Muppidi Kiran Kumar

18. Nerudu Jagadish Mudiraj

19. P Venkata Durga Tarun

20. Mohammed Sabir Hussain Shaikh

21. P Ridhima

22. B Mahen Sai Raj

23. T Upendar

24. Ch Parameshwar

25. Prahlad – tour operator

Telangana Home Minister Naini Narsimha Reddy and government officials along with a police team left for Himachal Pradesh in the wake of the incident. Two teams of NDRF comprising of 45 members each have been dispatched to the mishap site to help local authorities in relief and rescue operations, according to a senior official of NDRF.

Meanwhile, 15 parents and relatives of students were taken to Delhi by the Telangana government by an Air India flight. From Delhi, the parents will be taken to Chandigarh and subsequently to Kullu.

According to an official release, Telanana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao spoke to his counterpart Virbhadra Singh and requested him to take immediate relief measures.

The state government has already requisitioned the Defence Ministry for helicopter and aircraft for Chandigarh and thereafter to the mishap spot in Kullu and bring the bodies back to Delhi and thereafter to Hyderabad, the release said.

Air Costa airline has also been asked to take parents to HP and bring them back to Hyderabad along with the survivors and those who are stranded. The state government will bear all the expenditure for hiring the air services, the release said.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh government today said state minister P Narayana, representative of AP government K Rammohan Rao along with some parents of the students had left Chandigarh in a special flight from where they will proceed by road to the accident spot.

The team is entrusted with the job of bringing the bodies of the deceased students, besides bringing back those who survived, according to a release issued by the Andhra Pradesh government. On suggestions that there was no warning, the Himachal Chief Minister said, "I object to the point that there was no warning. Even today water is very fast. If the gate is opened, the water level may go up by few inches."

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who visited the accident spot, said, "I was told by locals that there is a primary and secondary school functioning very close to the accident site and locals are extremely concerned about the safety of the children...My only plea to the HP government is that the concern that has been expressed by locals should be addressed immediately".

In Hyderabad, anxious parents and relatives rushed to the private engineering college at Bachupally seeking information about their dear ones. The parents and relatives complained that they did not receive any information regarding the incident from the college management.

A group of 48 students studying 2nd year Electronics and Instrumentation at a city-based private engineering college were on a study tour of HP when the tragedy struck.

"Why they (students) were taken to the river bed in the night hours? Did anyone inform us...were the parents told about this? They only collected Rs 15,000 from each student," Naik, father of a student Rambabu, who was part of the trip, said.

"I had spoken to my son on June 5 last. His exams had completed on June 2 and he said the college management was taking them for the tour. Whether it is study tour or a picnic trip...nothing was informed by the management," said Naik, who hails from Nalgonda district.

Meanwhile, 15 parents and relatives of students were taken to Delhi by an Air India flight. From Delhi, the parents will be taken to Chandigarh and subsequently to Kullu.

Read: Hyderabad college says consent was taken from parents for tour

The state government has already requisitioned the Defence Ministry for helicopter and aircraft for Chandigarh and thereafter to the mishap spot in Kullu. The state government will bear all the expenditure for hiring the air services.

Andhra Pradesh government said that state minister P Narayana, representative of AP government K Rammohan Rao along with some parents of the students had left for Chandigarh in a special flight from where they will proceed by road to the accident spot.