Around half a dozen schoolchildren and four villagers had a miraculous escape when a makeshift raft carrying them tilted to one side in a stream at Andevelli village in Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district on Thursday.
Local fishermen rushed to their rescue, thereby averting a major tragedy, sources said.
Six children, accompanied by four others from the nearby villages, were travelling in the small raft made of asbestos sheets to the other side of the Peddavagu stream on their way to school in Kagaznagar mandal, when the incident occurred.
The bridge across the Peddavagu was closed for traffic after one of its pillars partially caved in under the impact of heavy rains recently.
Since then, the villagers of Jagannathpur and its adjoining villages in Dahegaon and its neighbouring mandal have been travelling in makeshift rafts to cross the stream for their daily commute, heedless of the lurking danger, sources added.
The closure of the bridge necessitated the motorists to take a long detour to reach their destinations.
The urgent need for repairs to the bridge and restoration of vehicular movement on the vital road link in a safe manner came into sharp focus following the raft incident.
