A 13-year-old girl in Andhra Pradeshs Guntur district demonstrated incredible courage and resourcefulness, saving herself by clinging onto a plastic pipe after being pushed off a bridge into the Godavari river by her mothers live-in partner.The teenager – identified as Lakshmi Keerthana – was pushed off the bridge over the Godavari River on early morning in Sunday along with her mother Puppala Suhasini (36) and half-sister Jersey (1). Keerthana managed to hold onto a plastic pipe and took out a mobile phone from her pocket and dialled the emergency police number 100 for help.#Dial 100-#APPolice saves a girl hanging from flyover at midnight: Today at 3:50 AM, a man resident of Tadepalli pushed a girl, her mother&sister from Ravulapalem Gautami Bridge. The girl dialed 100 to save her by holding onto the plastic pipe of the bridge(1/3) pic.twitter.com/Zlni29pqis— Andhra Pradesh Police (@APPOLICE100) August 6, 2023Police authorities swiftly responded to Keerthanas distress call, and the Ravulapalem police, along with highway mobile personnel, rushed to the scene and successfully rescued the teenager from her precarious position on the pipe.“At around 3:50 AM on Sunday, we got a call seeking help. We rushed to the spot by 4:00 AM and as we saw, a girl was found clinging on to the bridge pipe line in a dangerous situation,” Ravulapalem Police officials said.Andhra teen pushed off bridge by mothers lover due to quarrels mother, sister missingThe accused has been identified as Ulava Suresh, who was in a relationship with the victims mother. 25-year-old Suresh and Suhasini entered into a relationship after the latter divorced her husband. The couple gave birth to their daughter Jersey, but the relationship soon turned sour due to frequent quarrels, following which Suresh decided to take the extreme step.“Suresh, who is living with my mother, took us to Rajamahendravaram. He stopped the car on Ravulapalem Bridge, on the pretext of taking a selfie, and pushed the three of us into the Godavari river,” Keerthana told police officials after her rescue.“Suresh pushed all three of them and fled the spot. However, he was unaware that Keerthana had managed to grab the plastic pipe installed for electric wires,” the police officials said.“Keerthana remembered that she had put her mothers mobile phone in her pocket and immediately dialled 100 even as she was precariously holding onto the pipe. We narrowed down their location with the help of mobile phone signals and found her,” they added.Ravulapalem sub-inspector M Venkata Ramana reached the spot, along with a five-member police team and the highway patrolling staff, within ten minutes of getting the distress call. In the rescue mission that followed, one officer tried to keep Keerthana calm, while another officer rappelled down with the help of a rope and rescued the kid.However, Keerthanas mother and infant sister are still missing, police officials said. Police also confirmed that two teams have been formed, one to track the missing mother and sister, and another to track down the accused.“A search operation has been launched to trace Suhasini and Jersey even as the River Godavari is flowing in full gusto. Another team is on a manhunt for Suresh,” Superintendent of Police Sridhar told reporters.
