In a tragic turn to a wedding anniversary celebration, six members of a Chennai family, including two children were drowned after a coracle ride capsized in Hogenakkal on Sunday. Among the dead was a 10- month-old baby girl. Three others, including a six-and-half-year-old boy, however managed to float to the safety of the rocky shore.
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The accident occurred at Manalthittu where water had reportedly started seeping into the coracle.
The victims Krishnamoorthy (60), his wife Gowri (55), their sons Ranjith (35), and Rajesh (30), and their daughters-in-law Gokila (30), and Gomathi (29) had arrived in Hogenakkal on Sunday morning to celebrate the wedding anniversary of Rajesh and his wife Gomathi.
The victims had boarded the coracle from the boat house past 2 p.m. and had reached Maamarathukadavu. This is a spot where tourists get off the coracle and take a few hundred meter stroll before boarding the coracle for a ride down up to Manalthittu, the site of the coracle capsize.
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According to the police, the coracle rider on seeing the water seepage, jumped off the coracle abandoning the tourists. While Rajesh, Gomathi, and Ranjith had grappled their way through the gushing waters, the others were washed away.
As of late Sunday afternoon, the bodies of Gokila and Darshan were retrieved.
Fire and rescue personnel are yet to recover the remaining four bodies, as they are grappling along the site of the accident at Manalthittu that falls partly within Karnataka waters.