Tragedy hits two families as 3 children drown in Vizag lake

Visakhapatnam: Tragedy struck a remote village under Anakapalle mandal in Visakhapatnam rural district on the eve of Dasara when three boys drowned in a water body on Friday afternoon. Another two boys escaped by swimming to the bank.

The victims were identified as N. Sarat Chandra, 13, Podugu Girish, 12, and Neelakayala Balaji, 11, of Akkireddypalem village of Anakapalle mandal. The rural police said Sarat Chandra, Girish, Balaji, Hemanth and Bhaskar went for a swim in a small water body created inside an abandoned quarry. After playing on the banks, they jumped into the water to swim. But the three couldn’t swim and drowned. Hemanth and Bhaskar managed to save themselves and ran to the village and raised an alarm.

By the time the family members arrived at the spot, the three children had drowned. Girsh, Hemant and Bhakar are brothers. The police said that the quarry was given permission under Marupudi Survey No. 357 and the work was abandoned due to lockdown. The rainwater filled a large portion of the earth that was dug by the quarry workers.

The villagers blamed the revenue officials for insisting that the craters be filled with water that became the death trap for the children. They said due to the prolonged closure of the schools, the children visited these quarries to play in the water.