COIMBATORE: Five people have swept away in the Bhavani river in two different incidents in Coimbatore due to sudden rise of water level of the river on Saturday.
In the first incident, the women, Bhakiyam (60), her daughter-in-law Jamuna (40) from Narasimmanaickenpalayam and Sakunthala (42) from Vatchinampalayam, had gone to Jamuna’s parents’ house in Vatchinapalayam village near Sirumugai to attend the house warming ceremony, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday, along with their relatives Monika, Kasturi and Balakrishnan.
All six of them had gone to take bath in the river on Saturday, when the water level suddenly rose. Water release from the Pillur dam is the reason for the water level increase. Balakrishnan and Monika were on the bank and the other four were inside the river.
Balakrishnan jumped and rescued Bhakiyam and Kasturi, but he couldn’t find the other two. Both were rushed to the hospital, where Bhakiyam was declared dead. The bodies of Jamuna and Sakunthala were found a few kilometers away from the village, according to the police.
Similarly, in another incident, two men, including a college student went missing from the Bhavani river in Uppupallam near Mettupalayam on Saturday. According to the police, six people, including college students from Coimbatore, had gone to take a bath in the river. They were inside the river till the evening, when the water level rose. While four of them managed to escape, two went missing.