Shavasana saved my life: Survivor Janaki Ramarao

Hyderabad: Retired Assistant Health officer in Railways Ch Janaki Ramarao, one of the survivors of the boat capsize accident in Godavari, claims that he was able to rescue himself by performing a yoga asana.

He said that by performing the aasana he was able to reach the surface of water and later water flow pushed him towards banks. He immediately caught hold of a rock until local villagers came to his rescue.

Unfortunately, his wife Shiva Jyothi (45) died in the accident. Her body was fished out after six hours of the accident and identified.

Janaki Ramarao came to know about his wife's death when a policeman showed her photo at Rampachodavaram, where all the rescued victims were being treated.

Speaking to The Hans India, Ch Janaki Ramarao said that he was been able to save his life by performing 'Shavasana' (corpse pose ) for more than 3 minutes, till he reached the surface of water, after the boat capsized in the river Godavari.

Later, water waves pushed him towards the banks. But, unfortunately, his wife Shiva Jyothi (45), died in the accident. He said her body was identified and handed over to him on Monday and brought to her place on Tuesday morning for last rites.

Ramarao said he along with his wife and his brother-in-law's family identified as Pavan Kumar, Vasundhara (latter's wife) and their son Gokul left to Vijayawada and visited Kanaka Durga and Dwaraka Thirumala temples on Saturday.

Further, they left to visit Papikondalu on a private boat. His brother-in-law's family was still missing, he added.

"The boat suddenly tilted towards right side in the river and eventually lost balance.

Also, all were wearing life jackets and some of us jumped into the water, while others climbed on top of the boat. Within a period of an eye blink, the untoward incident occurred", Ramarao added.

He alleged that the helmsman of the boat was not skillful to thwart the accident. Crew members informed the passengers that there were waves and they will cross them in five more minutes.

Apart from five tourists all were wearing lifejackets at the moment. Police at Devipatnam police station captured the photos of tourists but, they did not alert them about the frequency of waves and floods, Ramarao alleged.