Vijayawada, Sep 12 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Department is busily engaged in an operation to retrieve three large boats which drifted and hit the Prakasam Barrage recently during the floods, said an official on Thursday.

Weighing about 50 tonnes each, the boats hit the barrage on September 1 and damaged a counterweight.

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Krishna Rao, executive engineer, Prakasam Barrage said a three-pronged strategy is being followed to clear the boats from the barrage, which includes pulling up the boats using cranes from either sides and also cutting them up from underwater.

"We are trying our level best. Since the past few days we have been trying but could not succeed," Rao told PTI, adding that the boats are also being cut up using divers.

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Observing that the initial efforts of using a crane to pull up the boats from the barrage failed, Rao said a similar effort would be mounted from the opposite side (river) to set up a three-pronged strategy to retrieve the boats, which are large in size.

However, he noted that a definite time period for clearing the boats cannot be given, calling the operation an indefinite crisis management.

According to the irrigation official, out of the five boats which drifted towards the barrage, one got submerged, one was washed away, while three are visible now.

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