Three of family drown as car plunges into canal in Telangana’s Nalgonda

Three members of a family drowned when the car they were travelling in plunged into an irrigation canal in Telangana’s Nalgonda district on Thursday morning, the police said.

The incident took place at around 8 am when the family was returning to their village of Vadderigudem of Pedda Adiserla Pally block in the district. The deceased were identified as Orsu Rangaiah (45), his wife Alivelu (38) and daughter Keerthi (18). Their son Karthik (15) was rescued by locals.

Gudipally sub-inspector of police J Gopal Rao told Hindustan Times that Rangaiah who had been staying in Hyderabad for the last 10 years and was working in the stone-cutting business, came to the village along with his family members to see his old parents.

“On Wednesday, they had gone to the neighbouring village to attend a marriage of their relatives and were returning to their village on Thursday morning. The bridge over the irrigation canal belonging to Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project (AMRP) is very narrow. Rangaiah apparently lost control over the steering of the car and it plunged off the bridge into the canal,” the SI said.

He said the car floated on the water for some time and some locals immediately jumped into the waters to rescue the family members. “However, Rangaiah panicked and did not open the doors. Apparently, he thought they would be safe if they remained in the car. Some villagers forcibly broke open the window panes and pulled Karthik out and by the time, they tried to rescue others, water entered the car and within minutes, it drowned completely,” Gopal Rao said.

Meanwhile, Gudipalli police who rushed to the spot managed to retrieve the car with the help of cranes but could not save the other three family members. “We have booked a case of accidental death and are investigating the matter,” the sub-inspector said.

This is the fourth such incident involving family members in a span of one month in Telangana. On February 21, three persons, including the husband of a woman sarpanch and their son, died when their car plunged into an irrigation tank at Vellanki village of Ramannapet block in Yadadri Bhongir district.

On February 17, the bodies of TRS lawmaker D Manohar Reddy’s sister Radha, her husband Satyanarayana Reddy and their daughter Vinaya Sri, who had gone missing since January 27, were fished out from the Kakatiya Canal along with their car near Karimnagar town.

On February 16, a car in which a couple was proceeding to a temple fell off the bridge into Kakatiya Canal almost at the same spot. The husband died and the woman survived with injuries. A constable, who rushed to the spot to conduct an inquiry, also fell off the bridge and died.