Beas river mishap: Dam water to be stopped for search operations
Search officials have decided to stop the water flow from Larji dam on Saturday for an hour
Hyderabad: As the search for the bodies of the students in the Beas river mishap failed to yield results on Friday, officials have decided to stop the water flow from Larji dam on Saturday for an hour and search in the stream full of rocks and silt.
So far, only eight bodies have been recovered. Sixteen students and a tour guide are still missing. Navy divers joined the search on the fifth day.
AP home minister N. China Rajappa left for Himachal Pradesh on Friday evening following the instructions of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Mr Rajappa will be camping in HP till June 16 to monitor the rescue operations.
Two unmanned aerial vehicles are being used to take images of the 16 km stretch and 750 personnel have been deployed.
Telangana principal secretary (revenue), B.R. Meena, camping at the mishap site said, “There has been no success on Friday. The massive search is being conducted with assistance from the ITBP, NDRF, SSB, local police and navy. The river has big boulders rocks and deep cavities. Bodies may have gotten stuck under the silt and rocks.”
He added, “On Saturday, water from the Larji dam will be stopped for an hour. All personnel will search the three km stretch by crossing the river from one side to other. We are hoping we will identify a few more bodies.”
Mr Reddy said that fifteen more divers from Hyderabad had joined the search operations at the site of the mishap. Meanwhile, the bodies of T. Upender and G. Aravind Kumar retrieved on Thursday reached the city on Friday.