Body of one more student retrieved

• T Govt seeks Army help to intensify search
  
• Naidu gets Centre’s clearance to send navy divers
  
• Swimmers from other States rush to the spot

Hyderabad: The search teams on Wednesday fished one more body of a student from the Beas River and intensified the hunt for 19 others missing students. The body was recovered near Hanogi raising the total number of bodies recovered so far to six, according to sources. The student body recovered was identified as that of Shabir Hussain.

The student’s mother Ayesha Hussain, who was camping there, identified the body.The search operations are being hampered due to rain in the area. The Telangana State government on Wednesday sought the help of the Army for speeding up the search operations to recover the bodies of students.

Telangana Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, who is camping in Mandi along with parents of missing children, said, “Our MP Jitender Reddy met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and urged that at least 500 army men be put on the job to speed up the search operations.” On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu spoke to the Centre and got clearance to send Navy divers. The divers reached Mandi. Meawnhile, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, Vice-Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), is likely to visit the accident site and monitor the rescue operations. He said that swimmers from Patna, Guwahati and Kolkata were being rushed to Mandi to retrieve the bodies.

The army and NDRF authorities are finding it difficult to locate the bodies and they feel that they might have been stuck in the slush under the water. Speaking to the media, the parents of the students, whose bodies are yet to be traced, said, “The Himachal Pradesh government and NDRF are doing their best, but Army assistance will speed up the search operations.” The parents are getting restive and urging the authorities to intensify the search operations with the involvement of rescue teams of the army.