Date:21/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/21/stories/2007062156860100.htm

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Girl washed away in open nala

Staff Reporter

Lucky escape: Deepa who survived after falling into the Afzalsagar nala with her parents.

HYDERABAD: An hour-long spell of sharp showers in the twin cities claimed the life of a young girl when she got washed away in an open nala while trying to rescue her youngster sister near Habeebnagar locality on Wednesday.

Till late in the night, the body of Poonam (10) remained untraced, even as scores of people were keeping a vigil on the nala. She along with her sister Deepa (8) went to the Afzalsagar nala to throw some garbage, when the younger girl slipped and fell into it. Deepa tried to rescue her, but both the girls got washed away in the swirling waters.

However, Deepa managed to grab the branches of a tree jutting into the nala and survived, while Poonam got swept away. Daughters of a knife sharpener, Shankar, the girls went to the nala around 5 p.m.

The short but heavy downpour paralysed normal life, as several areas got waterlogged. Traffic came to a standstill on many trunk routes since drains overflowed with rainwater.

“The children obviously could not withstand the current of the swirling waters and got washed away,” said Habeebangar police station Inspector A. Srinivasa Rao. Local people noticed the younger child clinging onto the branches and shouting for help and pulled her out. Police and local people mounted a frantic search for Poonam, but the efforts were in vain.

Police fear that the girl could have got drowned and add that the body could be found near the gates of the Sewerage Treatment Plant at Gowliguda. Shankar, father of the girls was away, while his wife, Rukmini, was taking rest in their hut when the accident occurred. The couple’s two sons, Govind, 12, and Rohit, 7, were also at home.

Local people alleged that construction of a slab on the nala had been their long pending demand but no public representatives or officials had responded.