Four pilgrims drown in Periyar

KOCHI: A teenager and three youths, who were returning after a pilgrimage to Malayattoor shrine, drowned in Periyar at Kalady on Friday. The mishap occurred when all the four, who are immediate relatives, went to take a bath in the river.
Police have identified the victims as Rajesh Albert (31), Suresh (27) and Antony Das (31), all hailing from Munnar, and Joseph Sahayam (15) of Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. There were 14 members in the team which was headed by Das (60) of Mattuppetty in Munnar.
Antony is the son of Das-Alphonsa couple, while Joseph is their daughter Rejina's son. Rejina's family is settled in Tirupur. Rajesh is the son of Alphonsa's brother while Suresh is the son of her sister.
On their way back, the four youngsters in the group stepped into the river to take a bath. The water level of the river where they stepped in was just four to five feet. But Joseph accidentally slipped into a channel in the river with a depth of around 25 feet. The others also drowned while trying to save Joseph. One of the locals, who was fishing in the river, raised an alarm and the relatives, who were waiting a few metres away on the shore, reached the spot. But they failed to rescue the youngsters, police said.
Police, fire and rescue personnel reached the spot and started search operations. With the help of a diver from the locality, they retrieved the four bodies by 12 noon. "There is a deep channel in the middle of the river. They might have fallen into the channel suddenly," said Stephan N O of Chelamattam, who helped to retrieve three of the bodies.
The bodies were shifted to taluk hospital in Perumbavoor for post mortem. After conducting autopsy, the bodies were handed over to relatives and friends by around 3.30pm.