KHAMMAM: School bags, pens and lunch boxes were seen floating in water even as there was a desperate search by parents and others for missing children. Inconsolable cries rent the air at Tungaram stream on Khammam- Kothagudem highway near Kothagudem town, where at least eight children died and 26 others injured when a school bus fell into the stream on Tuesday afternoon.Tragedy struck 20 minutes after the bus left LR Reddy Memorial School at Vepalagadda, which is the only English medium school in the area. People of Tungaram, Chandrugunda, Raghavapuram and surrounding villages send their wards to the school.According to Srinivas Rao, a fancy goods shop owner at Siyadnagar who came to Raghavapuram to attend a function, the bus fell in the stream in less than five minutes since it left Raghavapuram."We saw the bus at Raghavapuram where six children got down. We heard the shocking news from a bike rider who was coming from Tungaram village that the bus fell in the stream," he said. The stream is located between Raghavapuram and Tungaram villages.About 20 people who came to attend the function rushed to the spot, which is just a kilometre away from Raghavapuram village.Soon, the news reached the villagers of Raghavapuram and Tungaram and labourers working in near by cotton fields reached the spot and brought some children to safety. "We rescued about 20 children. I myself lifted four bodies from water; all are little kids," Sriniva0s Rao lamented.As the news spread, people from nearby villages, parents of the children, media persons, police, revenue officials and rescue teams gathered at the spot within one hour."The banks of the stream were filled with people. Some confusion prevailed over the number of children died," said Ch Shekhar of Siyadnagar village, who participated in the rescue.The school was established by relatives in memory of LV Reddy, an IAS officer killed by Naga militants in Nagaland in 1995. But it is being run by one Narsimha Reddy now.
Comments
0 comment