Six Drown as Two Country Boats Capsize on Andhra Pradesh-Odisha Border

Bureau,Odishabarta

Visakhapatna,(A.P):Visakhapatnam: Four migrant workers and two children died when two country boats capsized in Sileru river early on Tuesday on Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border. Two more persons were also feared drowned in the mishap, but their bodies were yet to be recovered. Three others swam to safety, according to police sources.

Rescue teams halted the search operation late on Tuesday as night fell. The recovered bodies were shifted to government hospital at Chitrakonda for post-mortem. Malkangiri District Collector Y Vijay visited the accident spot and supervised the search operation and later the shifting of bodies.

In all, 11 people set sail in two country boats to their native Konduguda village in Malkangiri district after midnight on Monday. Initially, one of the boats capsized in the river near Silerugunta close to Odisha border and its passengers started drowning. Others in the second boat tried to rescue their fellow passengers, but in the process their boat too lost balance and capsized in the river.

Three of those who managed to swim to safety alerted the local officials about the mishap and rescue teams from AP State Disaster and Fire Services department were sent to the spot for the search operation. While the body of the two-year-old child was retrieved from the river in the morning, two more were fished out in the afternoon and three others late in the evening.
Among those killed were two children aged two and four years, police said. The victims, all tribals, were migrant workers who were returning to their village Konduguda in Odisha from Hyderabad. The workers reached Sileru check post late on Monday night but, fearing they might be stopped by the AP police in view of the ongoing Covid curfew, took country boats after midnight for their onward journey to their native village. In all, some 35 people started off in five country boats in the Sileru river. Some of them safely reached their destination, but ill fate struck the others.

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