Hyderabad: Heavy overnight rain and gusty winds claimed three more lives in Hyderabad, taking the city's rain-related death toll to five in less than a week. This follows the electrocution of an auto driver and a teenager in Bandlaguda on June 9, which exposed the dangers posed by snapped power lines during the monsoon.
Two Separate Incidents
In two separate incidents reported since Friday night, a father and his teenage daughter were electrocuted in Alwal while trying to remove fallen tree branches on top of their car. Meanwhile, an elderly woman died after a palm tree crashed onto her house in Meerpet. Police have registered separate cases.
First Incident: Electrocution in Alwal
In the first incident, 44-year-old Ch Sandeep, a private company employee, and his 16-year-old daughter, Preethika, an Intermediate student, died of electrocution in Telecom Colony, Alwal, in the early hours of Saturday. According to police, heavy rain accompanied by strong winds lashed the area around 2 am, causing branches of a neem tree in front of Sandeep's house to break and fall onto the family's car parked on the street.
In his complaint to the police, Sandeep's father, Ch Chakrapani, said his son stepped out to move the car when tragedy struck. "While my son was trying to first remove the fallen branches, a snapped live electric wire that was on the tree fell and came in contact with my granddaughter who was standing near the car. She suffered an electric shock. While trying to rescue her, Sandeep also came in contact with the live wire and sustained an electric shock. Both of them died on the spot," Chakrapani told police.
Residents rushed to the spot and restrained Sandeep's wife, Ch Swetha, from going near the victims, fearing she too could be electrocuted. But, by then, she too sustained a comparatively mild shock and suffered minor injuries. She is out of danger. The bodies were later handed over to the family after post-mortem examinations. Alwal police registered a case under section 194 (suspicious death) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
Second Incident: Tree Collapse in Meerpet
In another rain-related incident, 75-year-old Sabhavath Laxmi, a widow residing in Raghavendra Colony, died after a palm tree collapsed onto her asbestos-roof house during heavy rain and gale winds on Friday night. Police said the incident occurred around 10 pm. Family members and locals removed the fallen tree and shifted Laxmi to Osmania General Hospital for treatment. However, she succumbed to her injuries at around 11 pm.
Meerpet inspector B Shobhan said that, based on a complaint lodged by Laxmi's son S Ramesh, a labourer, a case was registered under section 194 of the BNSS on Saturday.
Previous Tragedy in Bandlaguda
The latest fatalities come days after Bandlaguda witnessed a similar tragedy in which an autorickshaw driver and a teenage boy were killed after a live electric wire snapped during heavy rain and fell into a puddle near a hotel. The driver and the boy were heading to the hotel when they came in contact with the live wire.
