School principal, student drown in tank near Krishnagiri

KRISHNAGIRI: The principal of a panchayat union primary school and a Class III student drowned in a water storage tank in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

Ezhuvappally panchayat union primary school principal Gowrishankar Raja, 53, died while trying to save the student, Nithin, 8, who had fallen into the tank accidently during the lunch break.

The tank is being constructed behind the school for agricultural purposes. “Gowrishankar jumped into the tank to rescue the boy. However, both drowned,” said an officer at Bagalur police station.

On being alerted by villagers, the police arrived at the scene, recovered the bodies and sent them to the Government Hospital in Hosur for postmortem.

The police registered a case.

Chief minister M K Stalin announced a compensation of Rs 3 lakh each for the kin the deceased. Stalin conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.

Stay updated with breaking news, weather updates, bank holidays and upcoming public holidays in march.