2 girls drown in water tank at Kattampatti

Coimbatore: Two girls drowned in a 12ft deep water tank located on the premises of Periyanayaki Amman Coir Mill at Kattampatti near Negamam here on Saturday afternoon. According to police, the incident took place while the duo was playing inside the mill compound.

"They walked on the asbestos sheets that were used to cover the ground-level water tank. Unable to bear their weight, the sheets broke and the children fell into the tank and drowned," the police said.

The deceased were identified as Sindhu, 6, daughter of Radhamani, and Preethi, 5, daughter of Prabhakaran, both hailing from Kattampatti near Negamam. Sindhu was a Class I student of the government elementary school at Kattampatti.

Police said Prabhakaran had married Radhamani six months ago. It was second marriage for the both. Radhamani's first husband Murugesan died of some disease one-and-a-half years ago. Sindhu was their only daughter. Radhamani then moved to Kattampatti and found a job at the coir mill where she befriended Prabhakaran. He too was married with a son, Pradeep Raja, and two daughters -- Preethi and Samayeeswari. He separated from his wife and married Radhamani.

The couple, along with their children, had been staying at the quarters of the mill for the past 15 days. When the couple left for work on Saturday morning, the children went out to play. When Radhamani returned home, the children were missing and started searching for them. She found the girls in the water tank and alerted the Negamam police, who fished out the bodies and sent them to Pollachi government hospital for postmortem.

The police have registered a case against coir mill owner under Section 304 (A) (causing death by negligence) of the IPC.