Engineering student goes missing in boat fire accident in Hyderabad

The Hyderabad city police are searching for an engineering student who went missing in Hussain Sagar Lake here, after a boat he was in caught fire due to fireworks, police said on Monday.

The fireworks were displayed as part of the ‘Bharat Mata Maha Aarti’ programme organised on Sunday night on the occasion of the Republic Day.

The mishap occurred a short while after Union Minister G Kishan Reddy and Governor Jishnu Dev Varma left the venue after attending the event.

Ajay was also in the boat along with friends when it caught fire. However, his friends were safe and Ajay could not be traced so far, a police official said.

Family members of Ajay approached the police saying that the student who went to Hussain Sagar for the programme did not return.

Police on Sunday said crackers were being burst from the boat in the lake after the ‘Bharat Mata Maha Arti’ programme and one fireworks rocket hit the crackers kept in the boat leading to the fire accident.

A man suffered burn injuries and was rushed to a hospital, they said. The event was organised by Bharat Mata Foundation.