Hyderabad, June 9 (IANS): A special flight carrying 24 students who survived the river tragedy in Himachal Pradesh will be landing here Monday night while bodies of four victims are being flown in a defence aircraft.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju said the special flight carrying 24 survivors would land at Hyderabad international airport at 10 p.m.
Bodies of four students are also being flown in a defence aircraft from Chandigarh to Hyderabad. It is likely to land at 10.30 p.m. at Hakimpet Air Force station.
According to information reaching here, rescue workers have so far retrieved five bodies and four of them were identified. Efforts were on to trace the 19 missing students.
The students of V.N.R. Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad were washed away in Beas river that saw a flash flood after the release of water from a hydropower project.
A group of 48 students from the engineering college were on a picnic to Himachal Pradesh when the tragedy struck.
The governments of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh swung into action to provide relief to the families of the victims.
P. Narayana, a minister from Andhra Pradesh, left for Himachal Pradesh along with 46 parents of the missing students by a special flight arranged by the state government. The flight landed in Chandigarh and from there they were being taken to Mandi district.
Telangana Home Minister N. Narasimha Reddy has already reached Himachal Pradesh along with top officials to monitor rescue and relief operations.
Earlier, parents of 15 students left for Delhi by Air India flight. The Telangana government also made arrangements for their travel to Chandigarh and from there to Mandi.
Telangana Chief Secretary Ajay Mishra has urged the union home ministry and defence ministry to arrange aircraft to bring the bodies to Hyderabad and also facilitate travel of parents of the missing students to Himachal from Chandigarh.
Telangana IT minister Taraka Rama Rao said a control room was opened in the office of Hyderabad district collector to provide information about the tragedy.
"The government will make necessary arrangements to take parents of the missing children to Himachal Pradesh. We will also arrange a flight to bring the bodies of the students," he said.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu held separate meetings to review the situation and directed officials to extend all help to parents in reaching Himachal and bringing them back along with the bodies of the victims.