Six Rescue Workers and a Guide Still Missing After Boats Capsize in Telangana

Six State Disaster Response Force personnel and a local guide were still untraced on Thursday after two rescue boats capsized in the overflowing Bethupalli tank at Sathupalli in Khammam district, Telangana. All eight fishermen the teams had set out to rescue were brought to safety.

The boats capsized on Wednesday evening, November 4, during a rescue operation amid heavy rain linked to Cyclone Murasu. The tank had breached, and water was flowing about three feet above its spillway in the initial reports.

How the rescue turned into a search

A team of 10 SDRF personnel and a local guide entered the tank in two boats and rescued three fishermen before the boats overturned in the strong current while they were going for the remaining five fishermen. The missing were suspected to have been swept into the Thammileru stream, and there were reports the boats had become entangled in fishing nets. Police sources said the SDRF personnel were expert swimmers and were wearing life jackets.

Earlier in the operation, three fire department personnel who went out first became stranded after their boat developed a technical problem. The SDRF and fire services team in the two boats brought those three back safely before the boats capsized on the next attempt to reach the fishermen.

The count of the missing changed as the operation went on, and readers should treat the latest figure as the current one. Initial reports put the missing at about 10 SDRF personnel. Later reports said 11 SDRF and Fire Services personnel were missing. The latest update, published by Hyderabad Mail reporting The Times of India and updated at 01:46 UTC on November 5, said six SDRF personnel and a local guide remained untraced, and four Fire Services personnel had been located in a safe area near the site.

Fishermen all rescued, search continues

Another team of 11 SDRF personnel was deployed and rescued three fishermen. About 25 National Disaster Response Force personnel from Kothagudem joined the operation and rescued the remaining two fishermen. A drone was deployed in the search, and additional teams were also called in from Bhadrachalam in the initial reports.

Khammam District Collector Divakara T S reached the spot and was monitoring the operation. Sathupalli MLA Matta Ragamayi joined the efforts and said the four Fire Services personnel had been located in a safe area. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy directed the collector to ensure the safe rescue of the missing personnel. Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy directed officials to intensify the search, and Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar confirmed that NDRF teams had been deployed.

Flooding beyond the tank

Nearly 300 families in double bedroom houses in Sathupalli town were stranded after the overflowing Vasyakanthala tank inundated nearby areas, and tractors and lorries sent to evacuate residents also got stuck. In Bhadradri Kothagudem district, the temporary ring bund of the Peddavagu project in Aswaraopeta mandal breached on Wednesday. Mulakalapalli recorded 197 mm of rain in the 24 hours ending Wednesday, the highest in the district.

No deaths were confirmed in the reports read for this story. The search for the six SDRF personnel and the local guide was still under way in the latest update.