Thrissur: In a tragic incident, four college-going students drowned in Kainoor Chira (an irrigation bund in Manalippuzha River), about 8 km from Thrissur town on Monday afternoon. The accident happened around 2:30 pm, police said. The deceased are Zayid Hussain from Vadookara, Kuttur natives Abbi John, Arjun K and Nived Krishna from Poonkunnam. Arjun was a student of St. Aloysius College, Elthuruth, while others were studying at St. Thomas College, Thrissur.
The bodies were found during a search by the Ollur police with the support of the scuba diving team attached to the Thrissur Fire and Rescue station. The scuba team reached the spot at around 3.25 pm and the bodies were recovered in 20 minutes, sources said.
The past few days had filled the chira. “However, the area where the accident took place is not very deep and there was no strong current in the river. The average depth in the area is 15 feet. It is understood that one of the boys lost control while taking a bath in the river and others drowned while trying to rescue him. It was girl students from a nearby college who informed the police,” said Vijay Krishna K U, station officer, Thrissur Fire and Rescue station.
Kainoor Chira is on the border of Nadathara and Puthur panchayats. “This is a hangout place for the youngsters from Thrissur town. There have been several minor incidents in which youngsters who fell into the water were rescued by local residents. But this is the first major accident here. Being a Monday, there were no local people there to help them,” said Nadathara grama panchayat vice-president Adv P R Rejith. “The local body has put up a board warning visitors of danger and the locals – mainly fishermen – have been alerting youths not to enter the water, but to no avail,” he said.
Sasi K S, a retired scuba diver, was the first to reach the spot. “I got a call from the Thrissur fire station about the incident. As I live just half a kilometre away from the area, I was the one to reach the spot first. When I reached, three female students from a nearby college told me that they saw four boys sinking.
"The first body was found about 15 metres away from the shore and the other were found in a five-10 metres circumference. The depth in the area was uneven. By the time I reached, they had lost their lives,” Sasi, who retired as an assistant station master from fire and rescue service in April, told Onmanorama.
The bodies were shifted to the Thrissur district hospital for postmortem.
