TRAGEDY struck the family of an Indian-origin doctor on Thursday (August 15) when his daughter fell from his arms into an Indian river and drowned.
Megha Reddy’s 18-month-old daughter Manvi slipped from his arms and fell into the Musi river that flows through Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
Her body was recovered after a day, and was returned to her family on Saturday (August 17) after a post-mortem examination, news reports said.
“I was holding Manvi when she suddenly moved and slipped from my arms,” Reddy, who is an anaesthetist with the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, told Srinivas Reddy, an inspector with the local police.
“The sludge and swiftly flowing water apparently deterred him from jumping into the river,” officer Reddy told the media. “Some passers-by tried to rescue the baby, but by then there was no trace of her.”
Reddy was reportedly photographing Manvi’s two brothers – aged 10 and five – when the incident occurred.
Local volunteers and emergency services were called in to help with the search for Manvi’s body, which was found three miles downstream from where the tragedy happened.
“The body was floating in the still water at the check dam,” officer Reddy said. “If there was any delay on our part in sending the boat, the body would have crossed the check dam along with the overflowing water.”
The Reddys were on a three-week holiday in India to attend a wedding.
