Hyderabad: Telangana has lost several lives to the flood which almost engulfed the state. Several heart-breaking stories emerge as city leaps back to normalcy.
One such distressing incident is the last phone call of a man stuck in his car as it is washed away in the floods. The phone call to his friend was possibly the man’s last; he was found dead on Thursday.
NDTV reported that the victim Venkatesh Goud, is heard requesting his friend to send someone for help as his car is caught in a strong current, with only a tree stopping it. “The car tyres have now gone up. The car has got filled with water,” he is heard saying.
His friend, who sounds anxious, urges Mr Goud to climb a compound wall or hold on to a tree nearby.
Mr Goud replies to him in the negative. “Yes I can see compound. But if I get out of car, I am gone (due to the strong currents). Even a tree that was stopping the car is gone now. The car is just moving away,” he says.
“Please be brave. Nothing will happen to you,” his friend reassures as he helplessly watches the car moving away.
The one-minute forty four second phone call ended and Mr Goud’s body was found later.
At least 50 deaths have taken place in Telangana, among them was a two-month-old baby.
A horrifying video of a man being swept away by the floods emerged from Barkas, near Falaknuma. Two people, who managed to find shelter on an elevated path, could be seen watching helplessly as the man was dragged away by the current.
According to news agency PTI, the man was later safely rescued with help from police and locals.
In another instance, a 54-year-old man, Tahir Qureshi, says he fell into the raging waters while trying to cross the road to his neighbour’s house along with eight other members of his family at 1 am on Wednesday. His brother tried to help him and lost his balance too. One by one, everyone was washed away. Tahir Qureshi managed to catch hold of a tree about a kilometre away and survived. The bodies of four of his family members have been found so far.