The vehicle was retrieved by personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) with the help of a crane.
The bodies of all six people who drowned in the Left Canal of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project in Telangana's Suryapet district on Friday night, were pulled out on Saturday. All the bodies were stuck in the car, which fell into the canal. The vehicle was retrieved by personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), with the help of a crane.
The deceased were identified as Abdul Aziz (45), Rajesh (29), Santhosh Kumar (23), Pavan Kumar (23), Naresh (55) and Johnson (33). State disaster management forces had also been roped in for rescue operations along with the local police.
The incident occurred on Friday night in Chakirala village of Nadigudem mandal when the person driving the car apparently lost control of the vehicle. Media reports stated that the SUV rammed into the railing of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway (NH 65), and the vehicle fell off the bridge into the canal.
All of them were employees of a private hospital in Hyderabad and were returning to the city after attending the marriage of their colleague in Suryapet district.
The guests from the wedding were traveling in two vehicles, and a group of five employees coming in another car were alerted by local residents about the accident.
Due to darkness and heavy flow of water authorities could not take up rescue work on Friday night. A team of the NDRF launched the search operation on Saturday morning with a boat and other equipments.
The car was spotted at about half a kilometre away from the bridge. District Collector Ameya Kumar supervised the search operations. District Superintendent of Police R Bhaskaran and local MLA Bollem Mallaiah Yadav also visited the accident spot.
IANS inputs
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