Four children drown in water pit in Guntur

Amaravati: Four children who had gone to have a bath drowned in a water pit in Obulanaidupalem of Guntur rural mandal on Friday. The children belonged to Chowdavaram and Jonam Chunduru villages.

Police said eight students from the two villages had gone to Obulanaidupualem and climbed a hillock about 3 km from the village. Later four of them want to bath in the nearby water pit but were caught in the mire and drowned.

The rest of students ran back to Obulanaidupalem and informed the villagers who rushed to the spot. The boys had drowned by then. Informed by locals, the Guntur rural police rushed to the spot and deployed expert swimmers who fished out the bodies of four students.

The victims were identified as Chukka Abishesk, 14, and Polisetty Gopichand, 15, of Chowdavaram and Kanaparthi Mahesh, 15, and P. Saiteja, 14, of Jonam Chunduru. They were Class IX students at Brilliant School.

Saiteja’s father Appa Rao works in a private spinning mill and the parents of the other three are agriculture workers.

Gopichand’s father Srinivas Rao said the children had gone to play cricket near Obulanaidupalem to enjoy their holiday.

Mr Appa Rao, and the fathers of the other two children, Mr Nani Babu and Mr Manikyala Rao, alleged that the pit was formed when clay was dug for the construction of the Chilakaluripeta highway road a few months ago. The pit was not closed and filled up with rain water. Neither the contractor nor the officials had erected warning signboards and this laxity had cost the children their lives.

The police shifted the bodies of the four children to the Government General Hospital at Guntur for autopsy after conducting inquest. Revenue officials inquired about the incident with the locals and assured that their families would be provided assistance.