A walk through shallow water into jaws of death

The five students who drowned in the Krishna on Saturday were just having fun after pre-final exams

Guntur: Chilamooru village in Kollu mandal in the district is yet to get over the shock even after a day passed after five students of a private college met with a watery grave on Saturday. Fate was merciless to the victims, all second year Intermediate students of Nehru Niketan College in Tenali, who just went to have some frolic after the pre-final examinations.

The victims drowned in the Krishna river at Chilamooru village amidst helpless cries to save them on Saturday afternoon but there was none to help the hapless children. Four other friends who saw them drowning began to scream for help but there was not a soul in sight to heed their cries.

According to the students who survived, all nine of them had taken intermediate second year pre-final examination and met again at the college after taking lunch at their homes. The group of nine friends decided to go to the Krishna river bank at Chilamooru village.

After arriving at the village, they loitered in the fields for some time and then decided to go the bank of the river. Finding not much water in the river, they walked to an island called Chilamurulanka through shallow water and after reaching the place got into the water and played splashing water at each other.

Later, spotting a boat floating a furlong away, four of the nine students decided to board the boat and, in the process, all of them got trapped in the mud underneath. From there they slipped into a 20-metre-deep trench and drowned. As they began to drown, another student jumped into the water to save his friends but met with the same fate. A villager, who heard their cries, alerted others in the village, but by the time they came, all the five met the watery grave.

The deceased were identified as Kommineni Mahesh Babu, Bitra, Rupesh, V Eshwara Raghu Vamsi and Sai Vamsi, all classmates. Those who survived include Bitra Shiva Gandhi, Akhil, Somnath and Sandeep.The students, before getting into the water, had visited Rameshwara temple in the village and prayed for success in the intermediate final examination not knowing what cruel fate they had in store.

A pal of gloom descended in the village as parents and relatives of the victims who reached the river bank after hearing the shocking news. Circle Inspector Ravindra and RDO Narasimhulu rushed to the spot by the time the villagers fished out the bodies. The bodies were sent for postmortem examination.

By Ravi Benjamin