Girl, infant drown in quarry; mother, sister rescued

Trichy: A seven-year-old girl and a four-month-old infant girl drowned while their mother and four-year-old sister were rescued after the four fell into an abandoned stone quarry filled with water in Pudukottai on Sunday morning. Police are inquiring whether they fell into the water while taking bath or it was a suicide attempt.Police said P Sivaranjani, 28, wife of Pandian, 38, an agriculture labourer and native of Koothinipatti village near Sithannavasal block, was mentally ill, according to her husband. She had gone to the stone quarry filled with rainwater to take bath along with her three children, P Nivethashree, 7, P Dhasvika, 4, and four-month-old P Harini. While taking bath, all four accidentally slipped into the water and struggled for life. On seeing them, villagers alerted fire and rescue services department. They rushed to the spot and fished out the bodies of Nivethashere and Harini from the water and also rescued Sivaranjani and Dhasvika. Police sent the bodies to the government hospital for postmortem and the survivors to the government medical college hospital for treatment. Annavasal police registered a case and are investigating. Meanwhile, quoting Pandiyan’s statement, police also said that since Sivaranjani was under medication for mental illness, they are inquiring how they slipped into the water.