Three students drowned in the Godavari river at Kunavaram village near Purushottapatnam Revu in Etapaka mandal of Polavaram district along the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border on Friday, while two others are missing.
“The three victims, all natives of Bhadrachalam and Madanapalle, were pursuing engineering at SRM University,” Eluru District Superintendent of Police K. Pratap Shiva Kishore said.
A group of seven students went on a trip to Sri Sitaramachandra Swamy Vaari Devastanam. After darshan, they went to the river to bathe, the SP said.
They parked the car on the bank of the river and entered the water. Five of them, identified as P. Satish Kumar, G. Teja, Navdeep, P. Abhiram and Ch. Srikar was caught in the swirling water while two students, identified as Deepak and Harsha, swam to the shore,” Polavaram Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) M. Venkateswara Rao said.
Local residents recovered the bodies of Abhiram, Srikar and Navadeep. Satish Kumar and Teja are looking for each other.
The bodies will be taken to Bhadrachalam Government Hospital for post-mortem, the SP said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu gathered the details of the incident. He expressed concern and ordered officials to intensify search operations.
Mr. Naidu expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and assured them that the state government would extend full support to them.
Published – 20 March 2026 19:11 IST
