CHENNAI: Two women and three schoolgirls drowned in a pond in Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the police, the deceased were identified as G Narmada (13), R Sumathi (40), her daughter R Ashvitha (14), M Jothi (38) and D Jeevitha (14) - all from Seethammal Street at Karumbukuppam village in Gummidipoondi. The police said that they had gone to the pond to wash clothes.
“Narmada might have entered too deep and got caught in quicksand, as we found her body last. To help Narmada, the women stepped into the pond one by one and all drowned,” said a senior police officer.
The neighbours who found the clothes scattered around the pond found the bodies floating, and alerted the fire and rescue service. The Sipcot fire personnel rushed to the spot and fished out the bodies, which were sent to the Ponneri Government Hospital for postmortem.