KARUR: Three men, including two brothers, drowned in the Cauvery near Nerur in Karur on Tuesday while taking a bath after performing the last rites of the siblings’ mother.
The deceased were K Suresh (65), K Arunan (62), and V Srinivasan (64) of Nadu Street in Narasimhapuram, Karur.
Suresh, Arunan had gone to the Cauvery along with their relatives to perform the last rites of their mother who died a couple of days ago. After completing the rituals, Srinivasan entered the river to take a dip.
However, he entered a deep portion of the river near the pillar of a pump-house being constructed on the riverbed for a combined drinking water bore-well and drowned. Seeing him struggle in the water, Suresh and Arunan jumped into the river one after the other in an attempt to rescue him. However, they too drowned.
Their relatives pulled all the three men out and rushed them to a private hospital in Karur, where doctors declared them dead.
Police conducted an inquiry and sent the bodies for postmortem. A case has been registered, and investigation is under way.
Meanwhile, environment activists alleged that indiscriminate sand mining had taken place in the river. S Vijayan, Coordinator of the Cauvery River Protection Movement from Karur, said,
“Contractors excavated sand to a depth of 15 to 20 feet beyond the permitted levels. Local residents are aware of these deep pits, but outsiders cannot judge the depth of water. Officials of the Water Resources Department should erect fencing and install warning boards at such locations.”