LS expresses grief over drowning of 24 engineering students

New Delhi: Lok Sabha on Tuesday expressed grief over the drowning of 24 engineering students in Beas river in Himachal Pradesh, saying the youth were the hopes of future.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the whole nation was shocked over the news of drowning of the students from an engineering college in Hyderabad and the country as well as the House stood behind the family of the victims. "The students were hope of future. We all are saddened and hurt along with the family of the victims. We also pray that those who were injured in the incident recover soon as they are hopes of future too," she said. About 60 students and faculty members of the VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad were on an excursion to Manali and 24 of them were washed away in flash floods following sudden release of water from a reservoir of Larji hydropower project near Thalot on Sunday evening. The House also mourned the death of former members G Bhuvarahan, S Mallikarjuniah, Ram Dhari Shastri, Shrish Chandra Dikshit, Ramnihore Rai, Umakant Mishra, N Janardhana Reddy, Madan Tiwary, Jayarama IM Shetty, R Umanath and Tapan Sikdar.