BackHyderabad students swept away as Himachal dam releases water; 5 dead
Five bodies have been recovered so far, says a Manali police officer; 20 still missing
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New Delhi: Rescuers were searching on Monday for 19 students and a professor swept away by waters released from a dam while the group was bathing in a river in Himachal Pradesh.
Rescuers found five bodies and officials say prospects of finding the rest alive are bleak after the students, who were on a college trip from Hyderabad, were swept away when the waters of the river Beas spiked dangerously high on Sunday.
“I think they were playing in the water," said a police official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “The water rose and they were washed away."
Whether warning signals were sounded before the dam released water is a matter of dispute.
“There was no warning," said D. Naidu, principal of the VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, the college from which 65 students had set off on the trip.
“They were trying to take photos on the banks when they were washed away," he told Reuters, saying he spoke to the survivors.
Others disputed the account.
Mandeep Singh, an engineer on the dam’s power plant, told CNN-IBN that staff sounded warnings before releasing the water and local residents “definitely warned the students to come out of the river" several times.
Officials have launched an investigation to determine the sequence of events, said police official Rajesh Kumar, but are now focused on rescue operations to find the rest of the group.
“The chances are minimal" to find them alive, he said, “but we’re trying."
Chief minister Virbhadra Singh demanded the dam’s engineer be suspended while the incident is investigated.
Union HRD minister Smriti Irani, who visited the accident spot, said, “I was told by locals that there is a primary and secondary school functioning very close to the accident site and locals are extremely concerned about the safety of the children...My only plea to the Himachal Pradesh government is that the concern that has been expressed by locals should be addressed immediately".
In Hyderabad, anxious parents and relatives rushed to the private engineering college at Bachupally seeking information about their dear ones. The parents and relatives complained that they did not receive any information regarding the incident from the college management.
A group of students studying 2nd year Electronics and Instrumentation were on a study tour of Himachal Pradesh when the tragedy struck. “Why they (students) were taken to the river bed in the night hours? Did anyone inform us...were the parents told about this? They collected ₹ 15,000 from each student," Naik, father of a student Rambabu, who was part of the trip, said. “I had spoken to my son on 5 June last. His exams had completed on 2 June and he said the college management was taking them for the tour. Whether it is study tour or a picnic trip...nothing was informed by the management," said Naik, who hails from Nalgonda district.
Meanwhile, 15 parents and relatives of students were taken to Delhi by an Air India flight. From Delhi, the parents will be taken to Chandigarh and subsequently to Kullu. The state government has already requisitioned the defence ministry for helicopter and aircraft for Chandigarh and thereafter to the mishap spot in Kullu. Reuters
PTI contributed to this story.
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