Body of fifth victim of Himachal tragedy brought to Hyderabad

The body of Devashish Bose, one of the 24 students washed away in the raging waters of the Beas river in Himachal Pradesh, was flown in here Tuesday night.

The parents of Bose accompanied the body brought by an Air Coasta flight, arranged by the Andhra Pradesh government. Parents of 12 other missing students also returned by the same flight.

Andhra Pradesh minister Kishore and senior officials received the body at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

Rescue workers Tuesday retrieved the body of Bose and another student, who is yet to be identified, from the river while four students, whose bodies were brought by a special aircraft in the early hours of the day, were cremated.

A pall of gloom descended on the house of Bose in Central Excise Colony in Bagh Amberpet. The shocked parents of the student had rushed to Himachal Monday on hearing of the tragedy.

According to information reaching here, search is still continuing for 18 other students who were lost in the surging waters of the Beas.

A total of 24 students of V.N.R. Vignana Jyothi College of Engineering were washed away in the flash flood after water from a hydropower project was released in the river Sunday.

An equal number of students who survived the tragedy returned to Hyderabad late Monday and some of them recounted the horror they went through.

They said they were clicking pictures on the river bank when water from the hydropower project was released without warning.

The bodies of four victims, including three girls, were brought to Hyderabad by a defence aircraft in the early hours of Tuesday and handed over to their relatives.

Heart rending scenes were witnessed as the parents of the victims arrived at Begumpet airport. A large number of relatives and friends of the victims gathered to receive the bodies that the aircraft brought from Delhi.

The last rites of B. Rambabu were performed in his village in Nalgonda district, while A. Vijetha, G. Aishwarya and Lakshmi Gayathri were cremated in Hyderabad.

The grief-stricken parents of Vijetha were inconsolable as the funeral pyre was lit at Panjagutta crematorium. Other family members and Vijetha's friends from the college were seen consoling them. Representatives from the management of the college also attended the funeral.

Leaders of various political parties also reached the houses of the victims to pay their last respects.

Meanwhile, Telangana Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy was camping in Mandi for the second day to monitor rescue and relief work.

"We are making all efforts to retrieve the bodies as early as possible but the rescue teams are facing problems due to water level and the sand," he said.