A tragic incident unfolded on Sunday night during the 76th Republic Day celebrations at Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad, where a fire broke out on two boats involved in the ‘Bharat Mata Maha Harati’ program at People’s Plaza. The event, which was attended by Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy, took a disastrous turn as firecrackers exploded, causing injuries to four individuals. While three victims were treated for minor injuries at Gandhi Hospital, one critically injured individual, Ganapati, was admitted to Yashoda Hospital.

Amidst the chaos, a young engineering student, Ajay from Nagaram, went missing. His family, who last spoke to him around 8:30 PM on Sunday, reported him missing after failing to reach him post-midnight. One of Ajay’s friends informed the family at 2 AM about his disappearance. Following this, they approached the police and scoured nearby hospitals but could not locate him among the injured. Expert swimmers from the Disaster Response Force have been deployed to search the lake, with suspicions that Ajay may have jumped into the water during the incident.

The police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the cause of the fire. The incident has raised concerns over the safety measures at large-scale public events. The missing youth’s family continues to plead with authorities to intensify their search efforts, while the condition of the critically injured Ganapati remains a cause for concern.