Amaravati, May 27 (IANS) In another tragedy, three boys were feared drowned in the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district on Tuesday, a day after eight youngsters were washed away in the same river in Dr B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema district.

The latest incident occurred near Raavi Lanka in Atchampet mandal of West Godavari.

According to police, three boys who entered the river for bathing went missing. Police and revenue personnel launched a search operation.

The missing boys hailed from P. Gannavaram in Dr B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district. They have been identified as Pawan Kumar, 15, Surya Teja, 12, and Praveen, 15.

Meanwhile, the bodies of seven out of eight youngsters who drowned in the Godavari in Konaseema district have been recovered.

Personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) continued the search for one youth.

Bodies of Vaddi Rajesh,15, his brother Vaddi Mahesh, 15, and Subbitha Paul Abhishek, 18, were recovered on Tuesday morning. Later, the bodies of four others were recovered. The search was on for the eighth person.

A group of 11 youngsters aged between 12 and 19 had gone to the river to take a bath near Kamini Lanka in Mummidivaram mandal.

While three youth managed to come out, the remaining were washed away.

Four of the youth were from Kakinada district, while four others belonged to Konaseema district.

Personnel from the SDRF, police, Revenue, and Fisheries departments, with the help of local fishermen and expert swimmers, were carrying out the search operation.

Eight boats, including three of the SDRF, and six drones have been deployed for the search, which is being supervised by Konaseema district Collector R. Mahesh Kumar and Superintendent of Police Krishna Rao.

The youth had come to attend a wedding in the family of a friend in Seri Lanka in K. Gangavaram mandal. After having their lunch, they went to the river to take a bath.

Preliminary investigation by the police revealed that when two of the youth started drowning, three others tried to save them, and when they too were drowning, three others tried to rescue them. In the process, all of them drowned.

The remaining three youth, who managed to reach the bank, raised an alarm and appealed to the locals for help.

–IANS

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