Metro India News | Hyderabad 

The body of Ajay Kumar, who had gone missing after the boat blaze incident in the Hussain Sagar on Sunday, was retrieved after nearly 45 hours on Tuesday night. With this, the death toll in the boat fire incident rose to two, as Ganapathi, a cracker operator who was injured, succumbed to injuries in the hospital earlier in the day.

Ajay, a resident of Nagaram, along with his friends, had come to participate in the ‘Bharatha Matha Maha Aarathi’ event, which was organized on Republic Day near People’s Plaza.

Towards the end of the event, organizers lit firecrackers on the boats in the Hussain Sagar when a fire broke out and injured three persons. In an attempt to escape, Ajay and others jumped into the lake. While others who knew swimming reached the bund, Ajay drowned.

On Monday morning, his family members requested a search operation to trace him. Following this, the civic authorities and police launched a search operation in the lake with rescue teams, including NDRF and DRF personnel. The Secretariat police are investigating.