Three persons, including woman and daughter, washed away in Wanaparthy

The three were identified as Santoshamma (35), her daughter Parimala (18), and Santoshamma's nephew Sai Kumar (25). The trio were returning from Kothakota to Koukuntla village of Devarkadra Mandal when the incident happened.

Hyderabad: In a tragic incident, three persons, including a mother and daughter, who were trying to cross the overflowing Ookachettu causeway at Madanapuram mandal in Wanaparthy district, were washed away on Saturday.

The three were identified as Santoshamma (35), her daughter Parimala (18), and Santoshamma’s nephew Sai Kumar (25). The trio were returning from Kothakota to Koukuntla village of Devarkadra Mandal when the incident happened.

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The trio, along with other people on bikes, were crossing the overflowing bridge when the incident happened. Though a few locals, who were present near the bridge, tried to save them, their efforts failed.

The police and villagers have launched a massive search operation to trace the trio. The causeway was overflowing as the officials released water from Sarla Sagar project which reached its full capacity after the heavy rains.

According to reports, Santoshamma along with Parimala had gone to Kothakota to celebrate Dasara with her sister. Though the two women wanted to return by train, Sai Kumar insisted on taking them on his bike. Though the bridge was overflowing, Sai Kumar decided to cross it despite the risk involved. As the trio reached middle of the bridge, Sai Kumar lost control of the bike due to the heavy flow of water and fell into the canal with the bike, taking the two women too along. All of them were washed away by the surging waters. The locals alerted the police, who have took up a search operation, which was called off after dark fell. The search operation resumed on Sunday morning and is still on.