Scuba divers roped in to remove boats

Vijayawada : The water resources department on Wednesday roped in scuba divers to cut the boats into two pieces and remove them from the Krishna waters near Prakasam barrage. Three boats crashed into Prakasam barrage gates during the recent floods causing some damage to the structure.

The department on Tuesday tried to remove the boats with heavy cranes. But the efforts had not yielded results. Finally, officials decided to bring in scuba divers, who started the cutting of boats into pieces with cutters.

A 10-member scuba diver expert team arrived in Vijayawada and began the efforts to cut the boats with cutters. Air balloon technology is being used to lift the boats after cutting them into pieces. The boat removing teams faced a challenging task in removing the heavy boats, which weigh around 40 tonne each. Besides, removing the boats or heavy objects in water is a difficult task. At present, two lakh cusecs of flood water is flowing in Prakasam barrage. The floodwater is released into sea and canals.

Water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu is personally monitoring the boats removal operations. The expert divers are facing difficult task to cut the thick iron hull of the boats and it is expected that the operation will be completed in three days.

It may be noted the boats’ crashing incident created uproar in the state with the government had alleged a clear conspiracy behind the crashing of boats, which were washed away from Ibrahimpatnam and crashed into Prakasam barrage.

Luckily, no major damage was reported. But the government has taken the incident very seriously and registered a case and arrested two persons, reportedly related to YSRCP.