Three teenagers died by drowning at the Mullungummi waterfalls in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitharama Raju district on Thursday after they slipped while taking photographs. Local authorities say that the three victim girls were on a leisure trip along with a fourth friend who survived with injuries.
The deceased have been identified as S Trisha, 17, S Ratnakumari, 16 and S Pavitra, 15. The injured teen, S Anjali, 16, is undergoing treatment at a hospital.
All four teens were relatives and hailed from the Jambuvalasa village in Kukumpeta Mandal of the district.
Anjali was clicking photographs and videos of the three others who posed near rocks at the edge of the waterfall when they all lost balance and fell into the water and drowned.
After she cried for help, Anjali jumped into the water to save the girls, but she too began to drown. A passerby who noticed rushed to rescue the girls, but only Anjali could be saved. The bodies of the others were swept by the powerful currents.
The deceased teens were students at a nearby Govt school.
In the video that has now gone viral on social media, the three girls are seen initially having fun until two of them venture further away from the rocks to deeper waters. A third girl who followed to help them also drowned as she moved away from the rocks.
None of the girls knew how to swim.
Officials have now cautioned tourists to stay away from the water's edge, especially in isolated locations, and refrain from taking photographs in hazardous spots.