TIRUCHY: A team of 51 firefighters on Tuesday recovered the bodies of the three Class 10 students who were washed away in River Cauvery at Ayyalamman Padithurai in Kudamurutti of the district.
According to officials, 10 students from a government-aided school near the Tiruchy railway junction headed to the river for a swim after completing their half-yearly exams on Monday evening.
The students ventured into a deeper portion of the river unaware of the strong current. While seven of them managed to swim back to safety, S Vignesh (15), S Zakir Hussain (15) and S Simbu (15) were caught in a strong current and went missing. Firefighters from Tiruchy and Perambalur launched a rescue operation but were forced to suspend it on Monday night due to poor visibility, strong currents and the presence of crocodiles.
On Tuesday, the operation resumed with a team of 51 personnel using rubber boats to navigate the treacherous waters. Soon after, they recovered the bodies of Hussain and Simbu. “We began the search at 6 am and continued until 7.15 pm.
The first body was found near the site of the incident, while the second was located half a kilometre downstream,” said a fire department official.
While the search operation was initially suspended on Tuesday night, locals alerted the fire department and the Fort police on spotting Vignesh's body under the railway bridge at Odathurai. Following this, the body was recovered and also sent to MGMGH for post-mortem.