COIMBATORE: Three college classmates, including a native of Andhra Pradesh, drowned in the Cauvery river at Pilikalpalayam near Paramathivelur in Namakkal district on Saturday evening while taking bath. Police have identified the deceased as C Vineeth Vimalraj (20) of Pilikalpalayam, D Nandhakumar (20) of Pappireddipatti in Dharmapuri, and S Sheikh Faisal Rahman (21) of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. They were final-year students at a private engineering college in Komarapalayam, police added.
In view of the weekend, Vimalraj had brought Nandhakumar and Faisal Rahman to his home in Pilikalpalayam on Saturday to work on their final-year project. On Saturday evening around 5 pm, they went to the Cauvery River to take a dip. Leaving their clothes and wallets on the river bank, they made their way into the water.
The trio did not anticipate just how deep the water would be in the middle of the river and drowned, police said. As the youths did not returned even after 7pm, Vimalraj’s parents and relatives went looking for them at the river bank. Spotting the clothes, the parents immediately alerted the Jedarpalayam police station, sources said.
On information, fire and rescue personnel from Velayuthampalayam fire station in Karur launched a three-hour search which yielded no results. On Sunday, another rescue team from Namakkal arrived around 7am. The bodies were retrieved near some boulders in the middle of the river, 150m away from the banks, at 10am.