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A video showing 24 Hyderabad students being washed away in Beas river in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district went viral on the internet.

An exclusive video shows a group of students standing in the middle of a calm river on several rocks and then being washed away within seconds by sudden increase in water level of the river. Students can be seen screaming and howling, unaware of the sudden gush of water.

Bodies of five of the 24 students, swept away in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, were flown back to their hometown Hyderabad. A plane carrying 22 survivors of the group also returned to the city.

Despite massive search operations by the Centre and Himachal Pradesh governments, with assistance from the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments, the chances of finding any survivors from Sunday’s tragedy at Beas river look are thin.

The survivors of the Beas mishap saw horror unfolding in front of their eyes when swirling water came rushing towards them and washed away their batch mates who were clicking pictures on the rocks in the river bed.

The students said that the water level rose to several feet suddenly, made it difficult for them to stand. “We were all sitting on the rocks, taking photos. There was a big rock in the middle of the river and everyone wanted to reach the top of that rock. Some made their way to it by stepping on some smaller rocks. After about 10 minutes, the water level started rising. I was upstream and I noticed it first. I began screaming, trying to alert everyone as I rushed back,” a shocked T.V. Suharsa said.

Few students made futile attempts to rescue their friends. “Few were trying to hold others’ hands and trying to pull them back, but it was in vain as the water level rose in a few seconds,” said another student.

Another survivor, Ravi Kumar, said, “I tried to alert my friends but by then the water level had shot up.”

Though official help came much later, villagers came to help the victims. “The locals were also helping us. About 15 to 20 students were washed away in front of us. I could just see the head of one student but I didn’t know if he was still alive. I threw a rope towards him but he just disappeared,” one of the students said.

Andhra Pradesh government has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the 24 students who were washed away.