Rescuers on Monday found the bodies of five of the 24 Hyderabad engineering students feared drowned on Sunday in the Beas river in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.
Rescue personnel gather on the banks of the Beas river during a search operation in Kullu, a day after 24 engineering students of Hyderabad were washed away. (AFP Photo)
The other 19 students are still missing, said an official.
The students were feared drowned after the river was suddenly flooded as water was released without warning from the nearby Larji hydropower project.
Chief minister Virbhadra Singh reached the spot to oversee the rescue operation and ordered a probe by the divisional commissioner into the release of water without warning, said a government spokesperson.
The CM also ordered suspension of the engineer responsible for releasing the water. A case of negligence was registered. Union HRD minister Smriti Irani also reached the site, and assured the state and the engineering college of assistance. Telangana home minister Naini Narsimha Reddy also left for Himachal Pradesh.
A group of 48 students from VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Technology in Hyderabad were on vacation. Some students were clicking pictures on the Beas banks near Thalot village on Manali-Kiratpur highway, 40km from Mandi district headquarters, when the tragedy occurred.
A group of 48 students from VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Technology in Hyderabad were on vacation. Some students were clicking pictures on the Beas banks near Thalot village on Manali-Kiratpur highway, 40km from Mandi district headquarters, when the tragedy occurred.
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Watch: Kin of missing engineering students await their return
Enraged residents of Thalaut and surrounding areas blocked the national highway after the incident, accusing the hydropower project authority of releasing the water without warning.
The incident sent shock waves, and parents and friends of the missing students made frantic calls to know about their whereabouts.
"I am deeply pained over the tragic incident of engineering students getting drowned in a flash flood in Himachal Pradesh," home minister Rajnath Singh said on his official Twitter account.
A local official blamed the surge of water on the hydroelectric power plant for the tragedy.
"The water was released by the Larji power project dam," AFP quoted senior state official Rakesh Kanwar as saying.
(With inputs from agencies)
Smriti Irani visits Mandi, assures support for missing students
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