VELLORE: Three persons, including a child, survived 105 minutes in utter darkness after their car plunged into a 50-feet deep well at Minnur in Ambur in the early of hours of Sunday.
S Sundaramurthy (34), of Avadi, was driving to Bengaluru in a car with wife Maya (30), and daughter Keerthi (2.5), when he lost control of the vehicle and hit a roadside tree before plunging to the well, police sources said.
While Maya sustained minor injuries and lost consciousness, Sundaramurthy called ‘108’ service from his mobile. With ‘108’ staff unable to locate them, a police team led by Ambur Taluk Police Inspector P Gokularajan launched a search at water bodies along Chennai-Bengaluru Highway, as Sundaramurthy had said the car fell into a lake. Finally, police asked him to activate GPS on his mobile. This led cops to the family’s exact location. “It took 105 minutes to locate them as darkness had encircled the area,” Gokularajan said.
With help of locals, police got into the well, which had five feet of water, and used ropes to bring the survivors out. The family was taken to a hospital for treatment. Sundaramurthy said he was a graphics artist and had worked on Rajinikanth’s 2.0, police sources noted. The car was retrieved later.