Toddler, grandmother meet with a watery grave

KOCHI: A five-year-old girl child and her grandmother on Thursday died due to drowning in the Panaarthodu canal, near Mulanthuruthy . Ammini, 56, wife of Vasu, Puthramalayil of Perumbilly and Diya Salim, daughter of  Salim,  Indian Coffee House employee, met with the accident when the woman washing clothes jumped into the water to save the child who had fallen into the canal, according to the police. 

The canal is about 12 feet deep and both of them did not know swimming, officers said. The incident happened even as the mother of the child is currently resting after giving birth to her second child a month ago.“As soon as the toddler plunged into the water, the grandmother jumped into the canal in a frantic bid to save the kid but she also started drowning.

A passerby saw the woman in the water and raised an alarm. The neighbours managed to pull the duo out of the water and rushed them to hospital. The hospital authorities, however, declared them brought dead,” said a police officer. Officers said the woman died en route to the hospital.