A paddy-harvester operator from Punjab drowned and his two co-workers were washed away in the Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) irrigation canal at Kattakuru village in Mudigonda mandal late on Monday night.
Sources said that the trio had gone out to attend nature’s call near their worksite late in the night. They accidentally got swept away in the nearby brimming canal shortly after midnight.
Some local farmers found their footwear along the banks of the canal early on Tuesday morning and passed on the information to the police.
A police team from Mudigonda rushed to the spot and launched a search operation with the help of local swimmers in the canal. The irrigation officials concerned reduced the flow of water into the canal to facilitate the search operation later in the day, sources added.
One body was retrieved from the canal on Tuesday evening and search operation continued when the reports last came in.
According to sources, the trio had come to the village last month to work in local paddy fields as operators of paddy harvesters in the predominantly rice growing region under the NSP ayacut.
