Six persons drown in AP’s Nellore district

Six men drowned in a pond in Toderu village in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district, police said on Monday.

Vijayawada: Six men drowned in a pond in Toderu village in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district, police said on Monday. The six were part of a 10-member group which entered the pond on Sunday, police said, adding four of them managed to escape to safety.

Incidentally, all of them know how to swim but swampy conditions in the pond meant six got stuck under the water, leading to their death, police said. The deceased were Alli Srinath (18), Prasanth (28), Raghu (24), Balaji (18), Kalyan (25) and Surendra (18), police added.

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Police said the men took out the boat without informing the caretaker of the pond. “Only four of the 10 persons who went into the pond in a country boat made of iron, which is used to feed fish, managed to come out,” Nellore Superintendent of Police Ch Vijaya Rao, said about the mishap which occurred on Sunday evening.

According to Rao, the men had previously also taken out the boat a few times without informing the pond caretaker. “While trying to take a U-turn by navigating with the oar, the boat capsized, leading to flooding and all of them jumping into the water. However, the bed of the pond was slushy and immobilised some of them,” said the SP who visited the spot.