Telangana: Body of one priest who drowned in Godavari traced

Mancherial: The body of one of the two priests belonging to Kerala, who drowned in the Godavari, was traced and retrieved on Monday. The priests were swept away while they were having a bath in the river at Errayipet village in Kotapalli mandal on Sunday. Chennur Rural Inspector Ch Vidyasagar and Kotapalli Sub-inspector B Venkat […]

Mancherial: The body of one of the two priests belonging to Kerala, who drowned in the Godavari, was traced and retrieved on Monday. The priests were swept away while they were having a bath in the river at Errayipet village in Kotapalli mandal on Sunday.

Chennur Rural Inspector Ch Vidyasagar and Kotapalli Sub-inspector B Venkat said the body of Brother Bijo Palampurakkal (38), a priest of the Assisi High School run by Christian missionaries, and a native of Mallapally in Pathanamthitta of Kerala, was retrieved from near the spot where he drowned. Father Tony Samson, 32, was yet to be traced. Fr. Samson also worked with the same school and hailed from Kerala.

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Both Bijo and Samson were swept away while they were taking a dip in a deep spot of the Godavari, reportedly even when they were not familiar with swimming. It was Bijo who was initially washed away. Samson drowned when he ventured to rescue Bijo. Father Anthony, who was on the banks of the river, informed family members of the two and the local police about the incident.

Vidyasagar said expert divers from the Fisheries department were roped in to trace the two and had managed to find the body of Bijo around 6.30 am. The body of Bijo was then sent to Kerala. A search operation is still on to trace Samson.

Bijo, an MBA graduate, was undergoing training to become a priest and had reached Chennur a month ago. Samson had been working with the school for the last three years.