21-year-old drowns in Mukkombu dam

TRICHY: Mukkombu dam continues to claim lives with a 21-year-old college student drowning in stagnant water on Saturday evening.

The victim ,identified as Anand Babu, 21, from Ariyalur district, went there in the evening to bathe along with a few of his friends. While there was no flow in the dam, the boy, who didn’t know swimming, drowned in a visibly shallow but 15-foot-deep trench filled with water in the river bed. There is no flow in the Cauvery as only a minimum volume of water is released from Mettur dam for drinking purpose. According to PWD sources, there was no water until Saturday morning. It got filled in the afternoon after whetever little water was released for drinking reached Mukkombu.

A group of 15 college students including six girls came to Mukombu dam to bathe. A non-swimmer, Anand too ventured into the water without realising its depth. While the others came out, he drowned.

Finding Anand missing, they alerted 108 services who in turn alerted Trichy fire and rescue service. Firefighters recovered the body of Anand and handed it over to Jeeyapuram police which reached the spot.

“The trench was formed close to the river bank over sudden diversion in the flow. The students didn’t realise its depth and drowned,” said the firefighters.

Usually, drowning takes places when there is flow in Cauvery but people get drowned in stagnant water without realising its depth. When asked about measures to prevent such accident, a PWD official said that “drowning has taken place despite warning boards kept at two places on the depth of water. “



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