Eight drown in rivers, sea off Poompuhar in Tiruchy

Tiruchy: In three separate incidents, eight persons including a father and son drowned in rivers Cauvery, Amaravathi, and in the sea at Tiruchy, Karur, Mayiladuthurai, and Poompuhar in Nagapattinam districts since Wednesday.

Police said that four persons including an engineering student drowned when they went to bathe in Cauvery in the suburb of Thiruvalarcholai -Ponnurangapuram. The deceased were identified as A. Andrew (19) of Valluvarnagar here, studying engineering at a college at Coimbatore,  and his friends Siva, Saddam Hussain and Ismail. 

Fire and rescue department personnel, with the help of locals fished out the bodies and sent them for post-postmortem. Srirangam police are investigating.  In another incident, Sakthivel (43) and his son Kathiresan (7) of Kodaiyur village near Karur went to bathe in river Amaravathi and accidentally drowned on Wednesday. Aravakkurichi police fished out the bodies and are investigating.
A 14-year-old boy drowned in the river Cauvery at Thulaghat ghat at Mayiladuthirai on Thursday. Police said that he was identified as Balaguru of Mayiladuthurai, who came along with his father to bathe in Cauvery when the tragedy occurred. Mayiladuthurai police fished out the body and are investigating.

A 24-year-old post-graduate college student drowned in the sea at Poompuhar in Nagapattinam district on Wednesday. He was identified as M.Ramkumar of Papanasam in Thanjavur district.