Cop drowns in Andhra flood while saving woman

HYDERABAD - A brave police constable who jumped into swirling flood waters to save a woman got washed away in the strong currents in coastal Andhra Pradesh. His body was recovered Friday.

Constable Mohammad Rafi was Thursday washed away in the flood waters while trying to save a woman trapped on a tractor in a stream in Addanki town of cyclone-hit Prakasam district.

Police quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the constable jumped into the stream to save the woman crying for help but in the process got washed away. The stream was overflowing its banks following heavy rains due to the severe cyclonic storm Laila.

A bus conductor Yanadi Rao was also drowned in the stream.

Heavy rains since Tuesday have claimed 27 lives in coastal Andhra Pradesh.