In a tragic incident, two sisters were drowned in Periyar near Manjummal on Thursday afternoon.
Periyar turned watery grave for Aathira, 14, and Askhara, 13, daughters of Suresh and Valsala of Chirakkathara House, Panayikkulam. Both of them were students of Little Flower High School, Panayikkulam.
The tragedy struck just hours after the girls had come visiting their mother’s ancestral home at Devaswompadam, Manjummal, to give their grandmother Ammini Vishu Kaineettam.
The sisters reached the fateful ghat around 1 p.m. as their grandmother was washing clothes there. The girls were reportedly playing on the slippery stone steps leading to the banks when one of them slipped and fell into the deep waters.
The other also met with the same fate in her attempt to save her sister with the helpless grandmother destined to watch them slowly drowning. What little attempts she could make to save them went in vain.