Four boys drown in Ongole pond while searching for Indian palm dates

Vijayawada: Four boys drowned in a pond while searching for Indian palm dates, at Cheruvukommupalem village in Ongole rural mandal of Prakasam district on Thursday.According to Ongole DSP R Srinivasa Rao, the victims — siblings Kareti Abhiram (14) and Kareti Sushanth (12), Podili Chinnu (11), and E Dinesh (10) — had ventured out of home around 10am carrying a fruit-plucking stick that had a sickle tied to its tip. They were all residents of the same village.When Chinnu did not return home for lunch, his mother began to search for him. She found his clothes on the bank of the pond and screamed for help. Hearing her cries, a local entered the water and found the bodies of the four children, but was unable to retrieve them, the DSP said.Between 2.30pm and 3pm, police received information that the four boys had gone missing in the pond, prompting authorities to launch a rescue and retrieval operation. The bodies were recovered from the pond around 5pm, the DSP added.A case has been registered at the Ongole taluka police station, and a probe is underway. The bodies will be handed over to the families after a post-mortem examination.