Doctor drowns, after car gets stuck in underpass filled with stagnant water, in Pudukottai district

The underpass, beneath a railway track near Thudaiyur, was filled with four feet of stagnant rain water; the doctor’s mother-in-law who was also in the car, was rescued

The crew of a lorry attempted a rescue, but the doctor could not be saved

In a tragic incident, a doctor attached to the Government Hospital in Hosur in Krishnagiri district, drowned after the car she was driving got stuck in a pool of stagnant rain water in an underpass near Thudaiyur late on Friday night.

According to sources, S. Sathya (35), the deceased, was proceeding to Thudaiyur, her hometown, from Hosur along with her mother-in-law Jayam, when the car in which they were travelling got stuck in the underpass beneath a railway track. The underpass was filled with about four feet of stagnant water after heavy rains. Sathya reportedly attempted to follow a lorry which managed to cross the railway underpass through the water. But she could not cross it as water entered the car and subsequently most of the car was submerged in the water. The crew of another lorry came to their rescue and pulled them out from the car. However, they could save only her mother-in-law, Jayam, who has been admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital here.

As news spread, residents of Thudaiyur and nearby villages staged a road roko on the Pudukottai-Tiruchi road near Keeranur, blaming the Southern Railway and the district administration for the incident. They said that they had been demanding a road over bridge instead of the existing underpass for a long time.

On information, the police and revenue officials form Keeranur and Pudukottai rushed to the spot and held negotiations with the agitators. The residents subsequently withdrew the protest on a promise that the demand would be taken to the notice of the officials concerned.