HYDERABAD: A fun-filled outing in quest of social media content by a group of seven youngsters from the city turned fatal, as five of them drowned in Kondapochamma Sagar reservoir in Siddipet district on Saturday. The bodies were fished out around 7 pm.
The group left for the recreational trip on two-wheelers around 9 am. After having fun on the shores for a few hours, they crossed the perimeter of the reservoir and walked into the water shooting videos around noon.
Siddipet police commissioner B Anuradha said: “The youngsters, who did not know swimming, went deep into the waters to shoot reels. They lost their footing and drowned.”
Five of them, siblings Dhanush (20) and Lohit (17) from Musheerabad, Dineshwar (17) from Bansilalpet, Jatin (17) from Chntal Basti in Khairatabad and Sahil (19) died, while K Mrigank (17) and Mohd Ibrahim (20) survived as they did not venture deep into the water, the Siddipet police said. However, their desperate attempts to rescue their drowning friends went in vain.
Dhanush was working as a photographer in Musheerabad, while Dineshwar and Jatin were diploma course students.
The remote location of the spot also proved a disadvantage as there were no people around to respond to their calls for help.
Politicos condole deaths of 5 youths
The two survivors alerted cops, who rushed to the site and roped in professional divers to retrieve the bodies.
Chief minister A Revanth Reddy expressed deep sorrow over the incident and ordered immediate deployment of deep-sea fishing boats for the search operation.
Former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and BRS MLA T Harish Rao urged the govt to take measures to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies. Harish demanded an ex gratia of ₹15 lakh each to the kin of the deceased.
Union minister G Kishan Reddy asked the officials to to make security arrangements near the reservoir to prevent such incidents.
