Three drown in Munneru river in Andhra Pradesh

Three persons from a group of 11 drowned on Monday in Munneru river at Keesara village in Andhra Pradesh's NTR District, a police official said on Monday.

The group of 11 friends from Ithavaram village in Nandigama mandal, some of whom were students and others were employed, went to Munneru after lunch to enjoy a swim on Monday, which was a holiday related to Diwali, the official said.

''On noticing that one of their friends was drowning, about four others from the group also jumped into the water to rescue him but it finally ended up in three persons dying and one surviving,'' Nandigama sub-divisional police officer K Janardhan Naidu told PTI.

Naidu said two persons died in the river itself while the third one died by the time he was taken to the hospital.

Though there were other people around, Naidu said the three men died before they could be rescued.

Incidentally, Munneru was not in spate and the three persons died at an isolated deep spot in the river which was otherwise shallow.

Police have registered a case over the incident.