Car slips from ferry, 1 dies in Puthanvelikara

Kochi: A 53-year-old man drowned after his car accidently slipped from a make-shift ferry and fell into the river at Puthenvelikkara, over 40 kms from here.
The incident happened at 7.05 am at Puthenvelikkara Station Kadavu ferry when Arumughan, an ex-serviceman currently working in Gulf and on a month’s leave, drove in his car onto the ferry en-route to a hospital in Ernakulam.

“Arumughan and his wife Subhashini were in the car. He had worn his seatbelt. The crew asked to move the car a little further ahead to accommodate another vehicle. However, the ex-serviceman accidently stepped on the pedal and the car suddenly veered to the left and fell off from the ferry into the water,” police said.

Co-passengers shouted for help and a few of them jumped into the river to save the couple. Though Subhashini managed to open the backdoor and come out of the sinking vehicle, Arumughan was trapped inside with his seatbelt on.

“A few of the good Samaritans rescued Subhashini and tried to rescue Arumughan from the car. The latter even managed to handover a file containing certain documents but couldn’t free himself,” police said.