Two 17-year-old students drowned and another one went missing in the Meenachil river at Poovathumood, near Kottayam, on Monday.
The deceased were identified as K.C. Allen, son of K.C. Chacko of Chingavanam and Shibin Jacob, son of K.C. Joy of Meenadam. A massive search operation is on to trace Aswin K Prasad, a native of Vadavathoor, who went missing in the river. The victims were pursuing their Plus Two course with the IHRD School in Puthuppally.
According to the police, the incident took place around 1.50 p.m. at a location close to the hanging bridge at Poovathumood. The trio were part of an eight-member team of students from the school.
“Aswin, who had stepped into the waterbody to clean his legs, was the first to go missing. He was followed by Allen, who attempted to lend a hand to rescue Aswin, while Shibin jumped into the waterbody to rescue both of them,” said an officer.
On an alert raised by the remaining students, a few locals rushed to the spot and soon the police and the Fire and Rescue Services were called in.
A scuba team of the Fire and Rescue Services, Kottayam, carried out a massive search operation with the help of local people and the dead bodies of Allen and Shibin were fished out by 4 p.m.
