SALEM: Five people, including three women, drowned in the
Cauvery river near
Mettur
in
Salem
district of
Tamil Nadu on Sunday.
The deceased have been identified as K Saravanan, 35, of Vijayamangalam in
Erode
district, his wife Mythili, 31, his son Hariharan, 9, his relatives G Vanishree, 20, of Reddiyur near Mettur and M Raveena, 15, of Vijayamangalam.
Saravanan, a weaver, and his family came to his relative Gopal’s house in Reddiyur on Saturday. After breakfast on Sunday morning, Saravanan, Mythili, Hariharan, Vanishree, her elder sister Dhanushree and Raveena went to the Cauvery river to take a bath.
They went into the river despite the district administration’s warning in view of a strong current.
None of them could withstand the current. Some people on the banks tried to save them, but only managed to rescue Dhanushree.
On being alerted, police and fire and rescue services personnel from Mettur reached the spot. Salem district collector Rohini R Bhajibhakare also rushed to Reddiyur to oversee the rescue operations.
Fire and rescue services personnel retrieved four bodies while the fifth one was yet to be recovered.
The Mettur police has registered a case and the bodies have been sent to the Mettur Government Hospital for postmortem.