New Delhi: Two students drowned in a lake in the US state of Missouri during Thanksgiving weekend when one of them jumped into the Lake of the Ozarks to save the other. Both the bodies were recovered from the lake, according to the police, reported news agency PTI.
The victims have been identified as 24-year-old Uthej Kunta and 25-year-old Shiva Kelligari from Telangana by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Kunta had gone swimming in the lake but failed to surface and later Kelligari jumped into the lake to rescue him but failed to come back too, the police said.
While Kunta’s body was found two hours after the incident by the rescue services on Saturday, Kelligari’s body was recovered a day after on Sunday, the police said. Both were pronounced dead on the scene, according to police records.
At around 2:20 pm, first responders received a call on Saturday requesting assistance locating the two, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Twitter page tweeted on Sunday.
The manager of the Airbnb where the two were staying said he called the emergency services after hearing cries for help. “I called 911 and my daughter also called 911,” he said.
“My brother jumped in the water and tried to save him but by the time he got to the kayak, they were already gone,” he was quoted as saying by the local television channel KY3.com.
In a tweet, Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao said he has asked his team to assist the victims’ families in getting the mortal remains back as soon as possible.
Earlier this year in April, two students from Telangana were killed in a road accident in the US. Pavan Swarna, 23, of Khammam and his friend Vamshi Krishna Pechetty, 23, of Bachupally in Medchal Malkajgiri district were killed in a head-on collision of two cars in Illinois.