Konaseema Tragedy: Bodies of 4 Teens Retrieved, 4 Still Missing in Godavari River

In a tragic incident, eight teenagers went missing in the Godavari River near Kamini Lanka in Mummidivaram mandal of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district on Monday afternoon.
By Tuesday morning, four bodies had been retrieved from the river, while the search continued for the remaining four teenagers.
According to reports, one Polisetti Abhishek had invited his school friends from Kakinada to his sister’s half-saree function at Serilanka village, under the jurisdiction of the Pamarru police station.
A total of 11 youngsters, aged between 14 and 18, entered the waters of the Gowthami Godavari branch. Later, around 3 p.m. on Monday, they went to the Vruddha Gowthami branch for a bath and tragically drowned.
Konaseema District Collector R. Mahesh Kumar said that when a local youth ventured into the river and began to drown, three others tried to rescue him but unfortunately drowned as well. The other members of the group also entered the water one after another in a bid to rescue each other, when tragedy struck.
The individuals have been identified as Sabbitha Kranthi Manuel (19), Sabbitha Paul (18), Tathipudi Nithesh (18), and Elumarthi Sai – all from Kakinada – Rohith (18) from Mandapeta, and Elipe Mahesh (14), Vaddi Mahesh, and Vaddi Rajesh from Serilanka.
Only three members of the group managed to reach the riverbank safely.
While rescue operations began as soon as the police received information about the incident, it has come to light that State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel were deployed only late at night, further delaying the rescue efforts.
Expressing shock over the incident, YSRCP president and former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy urged the government to intensify the search operations and take all necessary steps to locate the missing youngsters.