Two cousins drown in Chalakudy River, 1 rescued

KOCHI: In a tragic incident, a 13-year-old girl and her 27-year-old cousin drowned in Chalakudy River on Sunday. Another 21-year-old cousin of the duo was rescued by local residents and her condition is now stable.

The deceased are Jwala Lakshmi (13), daughter of Vinu of Kodakara, Thrissur, and Megha (27), daughter of Rahul of Elanthikkara, Puthenvelikkara. Neha (21), who also was washed away, was rescued and rushed to Chalakka Medical College.

A five-member group, all from the same family, ventured into a tributary of Chalakudy River on Sunday morning to pick clams for fun, sources said.

The trio was moving around in the river tributary, picking clams and suddenly they got trapped in a deep trench, sources added. Hearing the screams of the other two who were closer to the banks, a woman living nearby dropped a piece of cloth and rescued one of them. The other two, who were trapped in the trench, were taken out of the water by fire force personnel.

North Paravur fire force officials said that they received a call about the incident at 10.46am. They had gone into the Chalakudy River tributary at Kozhithuruthu in Puthenvelikkara. A scuba team under Roy VG was soon deployed in the area. One of them was taken out of water at around 11.20 and the second person about an hour later, said a fire official.

"Two people were trapped in the trench. It was a narrow canal adjacent to the river they got into and it was not too deep there. But as they moved forward picking clams they were moving towards the deep river. The area where they first went was shallow with only about 4ft depth. People usually enter the river there. But as they moved towards the river's deep portion, the depth steeply increased to around 14ft. It seems they got trapped in such a trench," said a senior fire official.

Due to heavy rains the water was murky and there was no proper vision, said fire officials. 'The scuba divers struggled to see underwater, affecting the operation," said an official.

Elanthikara local body member Sindhu Naveenan said all of them were relatives. "The deceased are daughters of sisters. All of them had come to their family home after a death in the family. Since it is vacation, they stayed back after the ceremonies and it seems they had gone sightseeing," said Naveenan.

Meanwhile, sources at Chalakka Medical College said that Neha, who was rescued, was under medical care in the ICU where she continued to remain stable.