Four women, including two teenage girls, drowned in a lake in Veppur village near Gudiyatham town in Vellore on Saturday where they had gone for a bath.
Police said the deceased were identified as S. Saroja (45) and her daughter S. Lalitha (22), a graduate, Y. Kaviya (18), who was a first-year Chemistry student at a local college, and her younger sister Y. Preethi (17), a Class XII student. All of them belong to Gudiyatham town.
Kaviya and Preethi, along with their mother Y. Lavanya(45), had gone to visit the Muniswaran temple in Veppur village. After darshan, they decided to take a bath in the lake that was on the rear side of the temple. While Lavanya stayed away from the lake as she was holding her relative’s child, the other four women, who did not know swimming, ventured into the lake to take a bath. However, they were dragged into the centre of the lake as the bund was slippery. The incident happened at around 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Sensing trouble, Lavanya cried for help and people around the temple rushed to the spot. Some of them also alerted firefighters and police from Gudiyatham town. Nearly an hour later, a team of firefighters led by P. Saravanan, Leading Station Firemen, retrieved bodies from the lake. The bodies were sent to the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore. A case has been registered by Gudiyatham Town police. Further investigation is on.
