Five young men drowned in a temple pond in Chennai while performing rituals to mark Theerthavari festival on Wednesday, police said.
The accident took place when a group of more than 20 people, carrying an idol, entered the pond in Dharmalingeshwarar Temple at Nanganallur, for some rituals. While one person drowned initially, four others also went under the water while saving him, police said.
“All five of them have died,” state minister TM Anbarasan, who visited the spot on the directions of chief minister MK Stalin, told reporters. “This work (ritual performance) should have been done with due caution,” he added.
The deceased were identified as Surya (22), Vanesh (22), Raghavan (22), Yokeshwaran (21) and Raghavan (18).
The temple does not fall under the care of the state’s Hindu religious and charitable endowments department.
“I asked them (temple authorities) if they had informed the local police in advance that they were going to conduct such a festival,” Anbarasan said, adding that the matter needed to be investigated.
Chennai police commissioner Shankar Jiwal, who rushed to the spot after the accident, said the bodies were immediately recovered and sent to a government hospital in Chrompet.
“While doing a particular ritual, one person slipped and fell. We were told that those who tried to save him drowned too. We need to investigate further. Our first job was to rescue everyone. We will discuss with the panchayat and see what can be done so that such accidents don’t get repeated,” Jiwal said.
{{/usCountry}}“While doing a particular ritual, one person slipped and fell. We were told that those who tried to save him drowned too. We need to investigate further. Our first job was to rescue everyone. We will discuss with the panchayat and see what can be done so that such accidents don’t get repeated,” Jiwal said.
{{/usCountry}}Stalin announced a relief of ₹2 lakh from the chief minister’s relief fund for each kin of the deceased. “We are all pained by this accident. This is an irreparable loss to (the deceased’s) parents,” he said.