Two Chennai girls drown in Palar river; Relative’s body missing

CHENNAI: Two girls, aged 15 and 11 and their relative were washed away in the Palar River near Mamandur in Chengalpattu district on Sunday morning. Bodies of the two girls were retrieved while search is underway to find the man, police said.

According to police, families of two brothers- Kumaresan (48) and Satishkumar (44) were returning after visiting their family deity at Melmalayanur temple in Villupuram district. They are from Red Hills near Chennai. They own autorickshaws and went in their own vehicles to Villupuram.

On Sunday morning, they were returning home. When they crossed the Palar River near Mamandur, the family had insisted on taking bath in the river. After parking the vehicles near the banks, the families took a dip in the river.

After a few minutes, K Sivasankari, 16, daughter of Kumaresan and S Shivasree, 11, daughter of Sathishkumar got dragged into the water and screamed for help. Hearing their cries, their relative, Srinivasan (45), jumped into the water to rescue the children, police said.

Alarmed, the family members alerted police and fire and rescue services. Fireman managed to fish out the bodies of the children, while search is on for Srinivasan.