Guntur: Deep pits dug by illegal sand miners took five lives in Krishna river near Amaravathi in Guntur district on Tuesday.

According to souces 11 students of Chaitanya College from Nandigama of KRishna district, went to Digudu Revu from Chandarlapadu in a boat. They got down and tried to take a dip. However, they did not realise that a deep pit was formed due to illegal sand quarrying. While six of them managed to swim ashore to safely, five others drowned.

Locals retrieving the bodies of the deceased students.

The deceased have been identified as Harish of Thota Ravulapadu, Gopireddy of Cherukupalem, Ganesh, Lokesh and Harigopi of Nandigama. They are all students of final year BCom course in Nandigama Chaitanya college.

Five students who drowned during the holy dip in Krishna river.

So far, four bodies have been retrieved and search is on for another boy. Sources said that there were 20 feet deep pits in the area formed by sand mining. With 10,500 cusecs released into from Pulichintala for the Pushkaram, the students did not have an idea of how deep the river was at that point. Locals allege that illegal sand mining was to be blamed for the tragedy.

The search operation for fifth body is on.

Meanwhile, Krishna Superintendent of Police Vijayakumar said the students ignored the signboards, which warned that the river was very deep at that spot. The bodies have since been shifted to the Government hospital for post-mortem.

YSRCP chief and Leader of Opposition in the AP Legislative Assembly YS Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed deep shock at the sad incident and appealed to the government to take up relief measures immediately.