Five persons, including three women, have reportedly drowned in the Godavari river while they were engaged in fishing near Gollagudem village of Yetapaka Mandal in Polavaram district on Saturday (July 18, 2026) morning. The locals ventured into the river Godavari for fishing, expecting a huge catch due to inflow of flood water downstream Bhadrachalam. 

According to locals, a group of five persons, identified as Lakshmi, Bharathi, Suseela, Balaraju and Ramesh have drowned while they were fishing with the hand-held fishing nets. 

The dead bodies of all the five persons have been retrieved during the search operation, assisted by the locals with their boats. The Yetapaka police have registered a case and the investigation is on. The dead bodies will be sent to Chintoor government hospital for post-mortem.