In a major tragedy, at least 23 engineering students from Andhra Pradesh, including 17 boys and six girls from a Hyderabad based engineering college, were feared to have drowned in the Beas river at Thalaut, nearly 40 km from Mandi, on Sunday evening.
Officials said the tragedy took place around 7.30 in the evening when the students were standing on the bank of the river when water level increased due to sudden release of water from the larji Dam, located 2 kilometre from the spot.
The students were caught unaware and most of them could not even see the gushing water before they were washed away. All of them were on summer vacation, an official said.
Sources in the district administration of Mandi said the water was released without any prior notice, while locals said it was a regular feature. “Water is normally released
in the evening on a large scale to help generate electricity,” a villager said. A police team rushed to the spot and started rescue work. Till the filing of this report, police could not recover the bodies of any student.
The students were from VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology and were in second year BTech. In all, 38 students from the engineering college were on the riverbank when the incident took place.
Villagers from Thalaut and surrounding areas put up a traffic blockade in protest, accusing the project authority of releasing water without warning. This led to a traffic jam and also delayed the rescue work, said sources. Additional Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Rai said rescue teams from Mandi and Kullu have reached the spot.