Body of rescuer in ill-fated sea trip found in Ramanathapuram district

MADURAI: One among the few youngsters in the ill-fated boat trip at Devipattinam in Ramanathapuram district on Monday, M Muthumani, 33, reacted within seconds to jump into the sea to rescue the two women who fell into the sea without realising that swimming amidst sea currents is difficult, said local people who resumed search operations on Tuesday and found his body.

Muthumani, a civil engineer in Madurai, and 12 others including his wife and two children visited Ulaganayagi Amman temple at Devipattinam in view of Masi Amavasya.

They went to the beach after visiting the temple and convinced a country boat operator Raja to take them into the sea for a short ride. When the boat took a sharp turn, about half a kilometre away from the coast, Manimegalai and Irulayi fell into the sea and Muthumani jumped into the sea to save them. All three were close relatives.

Manimegalai and Irulayi drowned while Muthumani went missing. “Local fishermen, who rushed to their aid upon learning of the mishap, recovered the bodies of two women but Muthumani was nowhere to be seen. “We resumed the search on Tuesday early morning at the place where they drowned.

But the body was not found and we decided to return to shore when we spotted the body floating some distance away from the accident spot,” said S Jahir, former panchayat president of Devipattinam. The body was recovered and taken to Ramanathapuram government hospital for postmortem before being handed over to the family for final rites, said police.

Muthumani and his family hailed from Sunnabukara Theru while Manimegalai and Irulayi were from Solaialagupuram. “So, he jumped into the sea impulsively to save them,” said an official from Devipattinam Marine Police station. The sea was not very deep at Devipattinam but the currents were strong, said Jahir.

Meanwhile, Devipattinam marine police arrested boat owner R Sundar and boat operator Raja for causing the accident due to negligence. “The boats are meant for fishing but they used it for illegal ferrying of tourists,” said the marine police official.