Survivors in deep shock, allege there was no warning

Twenty four students were washed away last evening in river Beas near Thalot on Manali-Kiratpur Highway, 40 kms from Mandi.

Five bodies were recovered on Monday. The students were caught unawares by the sudden discharge of water in the river from the reservoir of 126 MW Larji project.

Even as rescue and relief operations were on at the incident spot, the surviving students had a harrowing tale to narrate on the tragedy.

‘It all happened in a matter of only 2-3 minutes,’ said one of the students. Ravi Kumar, a student who was part of the group from the Hyderabad college, said, ‘I tried to alert my friends... I ran towards my friends but by the water level had shot up.’ 

19-year-old TV Suharsha, said their group had 48 students, three faculty members and a child of one of the faculty members.

‘It was around 5.30-6 pm on the third day of our tour and we all wanted to stop for a break.

‘We were all sitting on the rocks, taking photos. There was a big rock in the middle of the river and everyone wanted to reach to the top of that rock. Some made their way to it by stepping on a series of small rocks.

‘After about 10 minutes, the water level started rising. I was upstream and I noticed it first. I began screaming, trying to alert everyone as I rushed back,’ a shocked Suharsa said.

‘The locals were also helping us. About 15-20 students were washed away in front of us. I could just see the head of one student but I didn’t know he was still alive. I threw a rope towards the student but he just disappeared,’ the student said.

The students alleged that neither was there any siren, to alert the people about the release of water nor any danger mark signboards on the river bank. 

‘Had there been any warning before release of water, precious lives would not have been lost,’ the students said.

One of the surviving students who was with group taking pictures on the rock recalled, ‘There was no water when we were taking photos. It was only after asking the locals we entered the river bed.’ 

The 2nd year Electronics and Instrumentation students, including 13 girls, along with their faculty members, were on a study tour to the hill state and had left Hyderabad on 3 June after completion of their exams on 2 June.

One of the students, who swam to safety, said authorities reached the spot very late. Police did not show any urgency in rescuing those drowning, he said.

According to a faculty member, they had started from Shimla to Manali in two buses and at around 6:30 pm on Sunday students from the first bus got down and went towards the river bank for taking photos, though their class-mates in another bus asked them to return.