Five of family who entered Cauvery to bathe drown

SALEM: Five members of a family drowned in the Cauvery near Mettur on Sunday morning when they ventured into the river to take a bath despite warnings issued by the district administration. Four bodies have been retrieved; search is on for the remaining body. The deceased were identified as K Saravanan, 35, of Vijayamangalam in Erode, his wife Mythili, 31, son Hariharan, 9, and his relatives G Vanishree, 20, of Reddiyur near Mettur and M Raveena, 15, of Vijayamangalam.
According to police, Saravanan, a weaver, had come to his relative Gopal’s house at Reddiyur with his family on Saturday. After breakfast on Sunday, Saravanan, Mythili, Hariharan, Raveena, Vanishree and her elder sister Dhanushree went to the Cauvery.
Public ignored warning, will have river banks monitored: Collector
An investigation official said Hariharan, who ventured deep into the river, got caught in the strong current. “Seeing this, Saravanan attempted to save his son. But he was also washed away. The other four immediately went to their rescue, and they were seen struggling,” he said. “People in the vicinity managed to rescue Dhanushree.”
They immediately alerted the fire and rescue services in Mettur. Its personnel rushed to the spot and started rescue operations. Collector Rohini R Bhajibhakare visited the spot when she came to know about the tragedy.
Rescuers have retrieved four bodies from the river. When TOI last contacted the rescuers, they were still searching for the body of Hariharan. The four bodies have been sent to the Mettur government hospital for postmortem.
Talking to reporters, the collector said the five people had entered the Cauvery in violation of the district administration’s warning. “We had warned villagers living along the river banks not to take bath in the Cauvery.” She said officials would monitor the river banks henceforth.
The collector also appealed to the public not to enter the Cauvery as a huge volume of water was flowing in it. “We have released 20,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) water from the dam. It will be increased to 30,000 cusecs on Sunday night,” she said.
The Mettur police have registered a case. An investigation is on.