Five undergraduate students from Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh met with watery grave in the Krishna river this afternoon.
The incident occurred at a ghat in Guntur district, police said.
The deceased students belonged to Nandigama and Chandarlapadu mandals of Krishna district and were B Com final year students at Chaitanya College in Nandigama.
A group of 11 students had hired a boat at Chandarlapadu and sailed to Digudu ghat near Amaravati in neighbouring Guntur district.
This being the 'Pushkaram' festival time, they got down into the river for a dip without realising that the river was very deep at that spot. While five of them drowned, others managed to swim to the river bank.
Initial reports suggested that the boat capsized, leading to the tragedy, but subsequent investigation revealed the students themselves had got into the river for a dip.
"We have erected warning boards indicating that the river is very deep in the area but they seemed to have ignored that," Krishna district Superintendent of Police Vijaya Kumar said.
YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy expressed shock and grief over the incident.
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