Telangana Journalist Missing After Car Swept Away by Swollen Stream

The TV reporter had gone to Bornapalli village to cover a story of nine farm labourers who were stranded in the middle of the Godavari.

New Delhi: A journalist reporting on the floods has gone missing after having been washed away by water from a stream which was swollen as a result of heavy rains over consecutive days in Telangana’s Jagtial district.

Zameer, who works as a reporter at the Telugu channel NTV, had travelled to the Bornapalli village to cover a story of nine farm labourers who were stranded in the middle of the Godavari once the gates of the Sriram Sagar Project reservoir had to be opened due to the rains, The News Minute has reported.

Members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued the nine in boats on July 12, The Hindu has reported.

Zameer was, according to reports, travelling in a car with a friend, Syed Riyaz Ali, when he was swept away by the swollen stream near the Ramajipeta village close to Bornapalli, on the evening of July 12.

TNM has reported that the two attempted to take a short cut and were trying to cross a flooded road when their car was washed away. Locals allegedly tried to stop the car and managed to pull Ali to safety. He managed to reach Ramajipeta late on Tuesday.

Heavy rains are slated to continue in Telangana for this week.

Chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao held a meeting with ministers and officials at Hyderabad on the situation arising out of heavy downpour in the state, an official release said Monday night.

Three flood warnings for the Godavari river have been issued in the Bhadradri-Kothagudem district. The water level in river Godavari at Bhadrachalam pushkar ghat in the district reached 53.90 feet at 10 pm on Monday.

Road links to many villages were snapped and vehicles were rerouted to safer roads in view of water logging in several areas.

(With PTI inputs)