Beas tragedy: Salampad grieves its ‘son’
Nizamabad: A pall of gloom descended on Salampad village in Bodhan mandal as the news trickled in that Vishnuvardhan Reddy, a second year student of Vignan Jyothi Engineering College, Hyderabad, was washed away in the river Beas. Venkateshwer Reddy, Vishnu’s father, is a government teacher in Rakasipet in Bodhan.
Vishnuvardhan’s parents were in Visakhapatnam to attend a family function when they heard about the accident and rushed to Hyderabad on Monday. Family and friends of the victim’s family rushed to Himachal Pradesh to bring back his body.
While in Salampad village, villagers are grieving Vishnu’s sudden demise, Sneha, of Yedapally mandal in the district, was also a part of the tour but stayed in Kulu. She spoke to her family members and told them them she was safe and returning home soon.
Meanwhile,two of the 25 engineering students who were washed away in the Beas river near Thalot, 40 km from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, belonged to Khammam district. Muppidi Kiran Kumar and Tallada Upender, both second year B.Tech (Instrumentation) students at a private engineering college in Hyderabad, were among those on a study tour of Himachal Pradesh when the tragedy struck on Sunday evening.
Kiran was the second son of Venkataramana, a teacher, and Padmavathi, from Burhanpuram in Khammam. Sources said that Kiran's parents were confident that their son being a good swimmer would survive.
In Paloncha, Upender’s parents, Srinivasa Rao and Sridevi, were inconsolable since they heard the news that he was among those washed away in the River Beas. Sources said that Mr Venkataramana and Mr Rao left for Hyderabad separately to get details of the incident and the whereabouts of their children.