Hyderabad rains: Body of missing postman found in lake

 When 50-year-old Sunder Raj responded to his call of duty on October 13, little did he know that fate had other plans, as the senior mail man who fell into a swirling rainwater storm here while on his way to deliver letters was found dead on Thursday.According to police, his body was fished out of Nagole lake, which was overflowing with rain water following downpour in the last two days.

Efforts were on to locate missing persons, who were washed away in floods due to heavy rains that pounded the city on Tuesday and Wednesday, police said.

Search operations were launched following a complaint about the missing mailman.A total of 56 letters were assigned to Sunder Raj for delivery in Jaipuri Colony, Nuvvulabanda, APCO Colony, Hanuman Nagar areas, they said based on a complaint.

Sunder Raj, according to the postal department officials, set out to deliver the letters on October 13, but due to heavy rains he was instructed to return to the office with the undelivered letters, for them to be delivered the next day.However, on Wednesday they approached the police after being told that Sunder Raj was missing and that he did not reach his home since Tuesday.

Efforts are also underway to trace six members of a family, who were among the nine washed away on Wednesday in Bandlaguda, police said.

One elderly member of the family was found alive even as bodies of two women were found on Wednesday itself, they said.

We are yet to find them... efforts are on to trace them,a senior official told PTI.The body of a private employee, who got swept away while riding a two-wheeler in Gaganpahad on Tuesday night was traced to a drain on Thursday, he said.

As on Wednesday, at least 19 people died in rain related incidents and six have gone missing, following incessant rainfall that lashed the city and different parts of Telangana, leading to waterlogging on roads and inundation of some low-lying areas.Meanwhile, five people, stranded on a hillock in Kulcharam Mandal of Medak district after a bridge submerged in Manjira River when gates of a irrigation project were lifted in view of heavy inflows of water, were airlifted by an IAF chopper on Thursday afternoon.

Some villagers alerted the police about the five people, following which Siddipet District Police Commissioner D Joel Davis contacted the Air Force Station at Hakimpet here and they were rescued with the help of an IAF chopper.

According to officials, Disaster Response Force of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation ( GHMC) saved over 15 people who were marooned in a water logged area here during the wee hours of Thursday.