Five from Hyderabad drown in Kondapochamma Sagar

When they ventured into the reservoir for a swim, five of them accidentally drowned. The police, irrigation, and other department officials have put collective efforts into retrieving the dead bodies

Siddipet: Craze for taking selfies and videographs had claimed the lives of five teenagers as they drowned in Kondapochamma Sagar while two of their friends had a lucky escape on Saturday. The officials retrieved five dead bodies by roping in expert divers after hours of effort. The seven teenagers, all from Musheerabad in Hyderabad, had gone to Kondapochamma Sagar with the Sankranthi holidays commencing.

They arrived at Kondapochamma, built as part of Kaleshwaram project at Markook, on two-wheelers. While shooting the videos and selfies, the teenagers ventured a bit deep into the reservoir where massive pits were dug while building the project.

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When one of them slipped into the pit, the rest followed him while trying to rescue him. However, two of them swam ashore safely and called the police by dialing 100. The police, irrigation and other department officials have collectively roped in expert swimmers to search and retrieve the bodies.

The deceased persons were Dhanush (20), his brother Lohith (19), Cheekatla Dineshwar (17), Sahil (19) and Jatin (17). The five along with Komari Mrugank (17) and Md Ibrahim (20) arrived at the reservoir on Saturday morning. Mrugank and Ibrahim were seen saying that they took their last picture with their friends.

The seven friends took multiple pictures and selfies en route to their journey from Hyderabad to Kondapochamma. A huge number of family members, relatives and friends arrived at Kondapochamma sagar as the news of their drowning broke. They were inconsolable as the officials carried of the rescue operation for hours. Later, the bodies were shifted to the government hospital in Gajwel for postmortem.