AP: Probe ordered into drowning of 14 students

The Andhra Pradesh government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into Sunday's incident in which 14 students of a school were drowned in a rivulet during a picnic near Vijayawada.

Krishna district Superintendent of Police N Chandramouli told rediff.com that the death toll had shot up with the recovery of five more bodies on Monday.

Till Sunday night, bodies of nine victims were fished out of river Munneru at Keesara village near Nandigama town. One student was still reported missing and efforts were on to retrieve his body.

The victims were in the age group of 10 to 15.

The incident happened on Sunday when a group of 436 students alongwith 40 teachers and non-teaching staff of Ravindra Bharathi Public school at Satyanarayanapuram in Vijayawada city went on a picnic to Keesara. Some students stepped into the waters of the rivulet and were swept away by the gushing waters soon after, even as their school mates and teachers watched them.

Villagers swung into action and rescued some of the students.

However, eight of the students met a watery grave before help could reach them.

Chandramouli said that a criminal case had been registered against the school management under Section 304 A of Indian Penal Code in connection with the incident.