Six schoolkids drown in Manair lower canal

KARIMNAGAR: Six schoolchildren drowned in Lower Manair Dam (LMD) on Monday. The boys, residents of Saptagiri Colony in Karimnagar town, had gone for a swim in the river when the tragedy struck.
Disaster management authorities and revenue staff rushed to the spot on being alerted about the missing boys.
Expert swimmers from Singareni collieries retrieved the bodies from the lower canal.The deceased have been identified as Gopi, 14, Sai Srujan, 14, Shiva Sai, 11, Pradyumna, 11, and eight-year-old twins Soumith and Sushith.
The parents of some of the victims fell unconscious after seeing the bodies. Karimnagar Two Town police sent the bodies to the government hospital for post-mortem. All the six students were studying in Hyderabad. They had come to Karimnagar for summer vacation.
According to sources, seven students had gone to play cricket near the dam. They had spent some time cycling during which they lost their bat. As they could not find their cricket bat, one of the boys, Rohan, went back home to get another one.
By the time he came back, the other children had got into the water and drowned.
District collector Neetu Kumar Prasad and superintendent of police Vuppula Shiva Kumar visited the place and made arrangements to shift the bodies to hospital.
Karimnagar MP B Vinod Kumar, TRS MLA Rasamayi Balakishan and ZP chairperson Tula Uma visited LMD Colony and consoled the bereaved families.
Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed grief over the deaths.