Sisters drown in river infested with crocodiles near Mekedatu

A family picnic turned tragic for two sisters as they drowned while playing in the river near Mekedatu in Ramanagar district on Sunday. Their bodies are yet to be retrieved.

The deceased Mona, 14 and Leesha, 12, were the daughters of Rajnikanth Reddy, a BBMP revenue inspector and residents of Rajajinagar, said the Sathanur police.

Ten members of Reddy’s family had gone to the Galibore fishing camp near Sangam at 3 pm on Sunday. They visited Mekedatu, but as they could not spend much time there due to heavy rush of tourists, they went further up by about three kilometres and reached Bommasandra and Galibore. According to the police, the spot that the family chose near Bommasandra was dangerous as water flowed at full speed and there were a lot of crocodiles there. There were also signboards that warned people against venturing into the water but the family apparently ignored them. They didn’t heed the appeals of a forest guard either, said the police.

Mona and Leesha were playing in the river with one of their uncles. After some time, Reddy noticed that his daughters were not in the area.

He alerted his family members and they all began searching for the two sisters, said the police.

On being alerted, the police and fire fighters rushed to the spot and began a search operation. A marathon search operation by expert swimmers, police and fire personnel to retrieve the bodies did not yield any results till late Monday night. The operation would resume on Tuesday, police added.

DH News Service