Three people died on Sunday morning after the car they were travelling in hit a bridge and fell into the Kedi Medu canal on the Pollachi-Udumalpet road in Coimbatore.
While one passenger was rescued by a bystander, the fire and rescue team is searching for another person who was reported to be present in the car.
The incident happened around 7:15 am when the five were travelling from Munnar to Pollachi. The driver lost control of the car and hit the bridge, after which the car crashed into the canal. The canal is said to be 11-feet deep.
The five people in the car were Alba (19), Juthin Joy (24), Jackson (21), Amalraj (20) and Lijo (27). All of them belong to Angamaly in Kerala and had left for Munnar on Thursday.
A lorry driver, Karthikeyan, rescued Alba from the canal.
“It was 7 am in the morning, I was bathing in the canal when I saw the car falling into the canal. I saw that two people were alive but I was only able to rescue one person. There was no one else around who could save the other person. We informed the police and then later the police and fire department came,” Karthikeyan told the media.
The fire department found the bodies of Juthin Joy, Jackson and Amalraj inside the submerged car, but are still searching for Lijo. It is speculated that Lijo might have drowned in the canal.
About 10 personnel from the fire department are conducting search operations. The police team is also helping in the operations. The fire and rescue team has been trying to pull the car out from the canal.
No police complaint has been filed till now and the investigation is still in process.
This is a developing story.