Man, daughter die as SUV plunges into 70ft-deep well

Dharmapuri: A 42-year-old man and his 13-year-old daughter were drowned after the sports utility vehicle (SUV) they were travelling in plunged into a 70-ft deep well near Karimangalam here on Tuesday. The fire and rescue services personnel have retrieved their bodies from the well after six hours of struggle.

The Karimangalam police said the incident occurred when L Veeran, of Linga Nagar in Bengaluru, wife Umalakshmi and daughter Sushmitha, were returning home after staying with his sister at her house at Mettur in Salem for two days. Veeran, who was a manager with a private garment unit in Bengaluru, was at the wheel.

C Kalaichelvan, superintendent of police (SP), Dharmapuri, said, “While crossing a flyover on Salem-Bengaluru National Highway, Veeran lost control over the SUV, which deviated from the road and plunged into the well that was close to the highway.”

While Umalakshmi managed to come out of the vehicle through the back door, which was opened when the SUV fell in the well, the officer said, Veeran and Sushmitha were stuck in the vehicle.

People who witnessed the incident alerted the Karimangalam police, who reached the spot along with fire and rescue services personnel from Dharmapuri and Palacode fire stations and rescued Umalakshmi, who was floating in the water. “She was admitted to the government hospital at Karimangalam and her condition is stable,” the SP said.

The fire and rescue services personnel retrieved the bodies of Veeran and Sushmitha by 8.45pm the same day and sent them to the government hospital for postmortem. Sushmitha was a Class VII student of a private school. The Karimangalam police have registered a case and further inquiry is on.