Body of Kerala priest traced in Godavari River after six days

Kotapalli Sub-Inspector B Venkat said the body of Father Tony Samson (32) was found around 10.30 pm in the river near Kollur village in Kotapalli mandal ,about six kilometers away from the spot where he was swept away

Mancherial: The body of one of the two priests who drowned in Godavari river on October 23 was traced last night at Errayipet village in Kotapalli mandal. The body of the other priest was retrieved on October 24.

Kotapalli Sub-Inspector B Venkat said the body of Father Tony Samson (32) was found around 10.30 pm in the river near Kollur village in Kotapalli mandal ,about six kilometers away from the spot where he was swept away. The body was stuck under the trunk of a tree in the river. It was shifted to Chennur government hospital for a post-mortem examination before being handed over to the kin of the victim, he stated.

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Samson belongs to Kerala, but was associated with a Christian missionary school of Chennur here. The body of Brother Bijo Palampurakkal (38), native of Pathanamthitta in Kerala, was retrieved earlier. Samson had been working with the missionary school for three years.

The two priests were taking a bath in the river even though they were not familiar with swimming. They were accompanied by Father Anthony, who was on the banks of the river and informed family members of the two and local police about the incident. They were reportedly on the shores of the river for taking photographs.

Supervised by Chennur Rural Inspector Ch Vidysagar and led by Venkat, a search operation was conducted by four teams comprising two expert divers from the Fisheries department, two policemen, two family members of the victim and four locals of Errayipet village, for six days. They scanned the river around 50 kilometers downstream by spending around 12 hours a day.

The policemen used a motorised boat brought from Sironcha of Maharashtra and another boat of Peddapalli district and special lights to search for the body at night.