Three of family washed away in flooded bridge at Wanaparthy

Hyderabad: Three members of a family were washed away while crossing a flooded bridge across an overflowing stream in Telangana's Wanaparthy district, police said on Sunday.

The victims, including two women, were crossing Madanapuram low-level bridge on a motorcycle, when its driver lost control and all the three were washed away along with the vehicle.

The incident occurred on Saturday evening in Madanapauram mandal (block). Locals who saw the trio being washed away tried to save them but in vain.

Police, with the help of expert swimmers, launched the rescue operation. On Sunday, the rescue workers found the bodies of Santoshamma, 38, and her daughter Parimala, 18, in the stream some distance away from the bridge.

The search was on for Sai Kumar, 25, who was driving. He is the son of Santoshamma's sister.

According to police, tragedy struck the family when the mother-daughter duo were returning to their village Kaukuntla after celebrating Dasara at the house of their relatives in another village Kuttakota. Santoshamma's nephew Sai Kumar was bringing them to their village on his motorcycle.

Following heavy rains in the upstream, gates of Sarala Sagar and Shankara Samudram reservoirs were opened three days ago to let out the flood water. The water was overflowing the low-level bridge of Okachettuvagu stream. In view of this, traffic was stopped between Wanaparthy district headquarter and Atmakur via Madanapuram for three days. Following a drop in the flood water level, the bridge was reopened for traffic on Saturday evening.

A video of the incident shows vehicles passing on the flooded bridge. Like the other two-wheelers, Sai Kumar also tried to cross the bridge. However, apparently due to triple riding, he lost control of the vehicle and all the three were washed away.