18-year-old drowns in Telangana quarry during Reels-inspired photo outing

An outing to a scenic spot for photographs, inspired by Instagram reels, ended in tragedy after an 18-year-old BTech student drowned in a water-filled quarry in Telangana’s Medchal-Malkajgiri district on Friday.The deceased, Pavan Sai, was a first-year BTech student at Geethanjali Engineering College. His body was recovered by the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA)’s Disaster Response Force (DRF) on Friday night.According to officials, Pavan was among a group of 12 students from the college, including three girls, who visited the quarry after seeing Instagram reels showcasing the location as a scenic spot for photographs.During the outing, two students entered the water and sat on a rock to take pictures. One of them later moved towards another rock, saying he would touch it and return. However, he drowned while trying to swim back, as he did not know how to swim.The officials received information about the incident on Friday evening and alerted nearby rescue teams. Two DRF teams rushed to the spot and launched a search operation as darkness began to set in. The rescue operation was complicated by the quarry’s steep rock faces, which made access difficult. Rescuers manoeuvred a boat into the quarry pit to search the water. A team led by rescue in-charge P Swami recovered Pavan’s body with the help of the boat in approximately 10 minutes.Later, Jawahar Nagar police took custody of the body and registered a case. The body was subsequently sent for a postmortem examination.- Ends