KOCHI: Locals, police and fire force personnel joined hands on Monday to fish out the bodies of a family of four, who drowned at Thiruvankulam, here, when the car they were travelling in plunged into a water-filled quarry after hitting the crash barrier on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as V V Viju, 42, of Myilakombukarayil near Thodupuzha, wife Sheeba, 36, daughter Meenakshi, 7, and son Surya, 4. Viju is an Assistant Engineer with the Kerala Water Authority.
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According to the Chottanikkara Police, the mishap was first noticed by locals in the morning. “People in the vicinity told us that they had spotted the body of a woman in the water-filled gorge at Sasthammukal on the Thiruvankulam-Puthankurishu route. On hearing this, we rushed to the spot, and found the broken crash barrier on the roadside, which shed light on the mishap. Later, we spotted two tyres of the car,” said an officer.
The fire force was roped in for the operations. As the search progressed, fire force personnel fished out all the bodies. The car was lifted with a crane.
Later, the bodies were shifted to the Ernakulam General Hospital for postmortem and handed over to the relatives.
According to police, Viju’s brother called him around 10.45 pm and the accident is said have occurred at around 11 pm. The car’s registration number is KL 37 A - 868.