CHENNAI: A four-year-old boy and a college professor drowned in two separate incidents in Kancheepuram and Chennai, while another professor went missing after being swept away by strong waves at Thalangkuppam beach.
S Niranjan (4) of Vanjuvancherry near Padappai drowned in the swimming pool of a private resort near Padappai on Monday. The incident occurred when his family had gone to the resort on Pushpagiri Road to attend a ceremony at a relative’s house.
According to police, several children were swimming in the pool when Niranjan entered the deeper section and began struggling. Other children raised an alarm and bystanders pulled him out and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Padappai police registered a case and are probing whether adequate safety measures were in place at the pool.
In the other incident, Kalaiarasi of Thalangkuppam, a professor at hotel management college, drowned and her colleague Naveen (28) went missing after being swept away by a strong wave at Ennore beach on Sunday evening. The wave struck when Kalaiarasi, along with her sister Gowthami (18), Naveen and Karthik (28), were playing at the beach.
While Kalaiarasi and Naveen were swept away, Gowthami and Karthik, who remained closer to the shore, helped each other and managed to reach the shore. Local fishermen launched a search and recovered Kalaiarasi’s body on Sunday night. A search is on to trace Naveen, who remained untraced till Monday evening.