5 students drown in rivulet in AP

Amaravati, Jan 11 (PTI): A pall of gloom descended on a sleepy village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh as five school students met with a watery grave in Munneru rivulet.

The students, all belonging to Yeturu village, went missing in the rivulet when they went for a swim on Monday evening.

After a hectic search operation, personnel of NDRF, police and revenue departments fished out the bodies on Tuesday, police sources said.

Three of the children were students of Class 7, one of Class 6 and another Class 9.

They were identified as M Sunny (12), K Balayesu (12), J Ajay (12), M Rakesh (11) and G Charan (14).

Nandigama MLA M Jaganmohan visited the village and consoled the families.

He announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 50,000 each to the bereaved families.

''We can't bring back the deceased but I will try to get more help to the families from the government,'' the MLA said.

He said though warning boards were put up, such incidents had been happening in the area frequently.

''We will take more steps to increase safety in the area to prevent such tragedies. Also, a bridge will be constructed across the rivulet connecting the villages in the mandal,'' the MLA said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)