Five persons, including three children, drowned in a temple tank at Gummidipoondi on Wednesday morning.
The three children drowned while playing in water and two women lost their lives while trying to rescue them.
On Wednesday morning, a few women from Karumbukuppam in Pudhu Gummidipoondi, including three children, went to the Angalamman temple tank in the locality to wash clothes and have a bath.
When the children — Narmadha, 12, studying in Class 8, Ashmitha, 14, and Jeevitha, 14, both students of Class 9 — were playing in the water, they were caught in the sludge and cried for help.
Ashmitha’s mother Sumathi, 38, and another woman Jyothi Lakshmi waded into the water to save them. But all of them drowned.
A few villagers spotted the bodies floating in the pond and alerted the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services and the police. The bodies were sent to the Ponneri Government Hospital for post-mortem.
A case has been registered in SIPCOT Police Station and further investigations are on.
CM announces solatium
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced a solatium of ₹5 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund to the families of each of the deceased.
