The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Industrialist loses life in rescue bid

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Industrialist loses life in rescue bid

By Our Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA, DEC.30. He wanted to save a 70-year-old Thai woman from being killed by the rampaging waves, but ended up sacrificing his own life.

The 42-year-old city-based industrialist, Sumanam Sreedhar, could have escaped to safety, but perished, as he rushed towards the shore to rescue a woman who was relaxing at the place unaware of the surging waves.

"And within minutes the gigantic waves ripped through the place and flung us all into an adjacent cottage. There was no way by which we could have saved Sreedhar as he was swallowed by the gushing waters," recalled M.Subba Rao, Deputy Mayor. The old woman too died in the swirling waters.

Mr. Rao and Sreedhar along with two other friends -- P.Srinivas Rao and A.V.Laxman Rao -- left the city on December 13 for holidaying in Thailand. But it all ended in tragedy as the three friends brought the body of Sreedhar to the city on Thursday from Bangkok via Colombo. The waves were over 20 feet high and out of the 400-odd tourists basking on the seashore, about 10 persons survived the nature's fury, said Mr. Rao recalling that the killer waves struck hardly a few minutes before they were supposed to leave the Phuket lagoon for Bangkok.

Chaos all around

"It was a strange spectacle when the waves started reversing their course and I was just trying to shoot them with my video camera; Sreedhar was also eager that we preserve the images for posterity. But then, everything happened in a span of a few minutes as the retreating waves returned with an awesome speed to cause the deluge," Mr. Srinivas Rao recalled.

According to him, to escape the surging waves, they climbed on to the third floor of the cottage and then jumped into two neighbourhood buildings to reach a safer place. "It was utter chaos around and people ran helter-skelter to escape from the wrath," he said. Laxman Rao was also left missing for sometime, but he managed to join the other two friends. The death of Sreedhar was conveyed to the other two friends by Mr. Subba Rao who witnessed the former's death.

A pall of gloom descended on the house of Sreedhar at Giri street, Sataynarayanapuram, as his body, packed in a coffin, was brought to the city on Thursday morning. His wife Sailaja and their two children-Vaishnavi(10) and Bhargavi (9) -- were inconsolable as the priests performed the customary rituals before the body was taken for cremation.

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