THANJAVUR: Three schoolchildren allegedly drowned in a pond near Vallam on Friday night.
The deceased were identified as S Balamurugan (10), S Jaswanth (8) and K Madhavan (10), all from Thiruvengada Udayanpatti near Vallam in Thanjavur district.
According to sources, all three boys, who were studying at the Thiruvengada Udayanpatti Panchayat Union Primary School, did not return to their respective houses until around 10 p.m.
The parents, who initially assumed that the children might have gone to the Ayya temple in neighbouring Maruthakudi, where there was a festival at the Sundaramurthy Ayyanarkoil, began searching for them only around 10 p.m.
As someone told them that the children were seen near the pond of the Pillayar temple in Maruthakudi itself, the parents and relatives rushed there. They found the school bags left on the bank of the pond, and the three children were found unconscious in the water.
Following this, all three were rushed to the Government Thanjavur Medical College Hospital (TMCH), where doctors pronounced them dead. Vallam police have registered a case.