Father, girl fall off hillock near Yercaud, die

Salem: A Chennai-based techie and his daughter died after they accidentally fell off a 20-ft hillock at Nallur near Yercaud in Salem district on Monday. The incident took place when they went to bathe at a waterfalls.
The deceased were identified as S Balamurali, 43, of Mandaveli in Chennai, and his daughter Sowmiya, 13, a Class VIII student. Balamurali and his wife Sundaravalli, 38, along with their daughters Sowmiya and Sai Swetha, 3, were on a weekend trip to Yercaud.The family on Monday went to Nallur to bathe in the waterfall.
Police said, “After bathing in the falls, they tried climbing up to an elevated place, when Sowmiya suddenly lost her step and fell off the hillock. Balamurali also fell off when he attempted to catch his daughter. Both sustained grave head injuries and drowned in the water.”
Fire and rescue services personnel retrieved the bodies and sent them to the government hospital at Yercaud for a postmortem. A case was registered.