Coimbatore: Three students of a private engineering college in the city, who ventured into Pallivilangal check dam located near Aliyar dam ignoring the ban on bathing there, drowned on Saturday. A 27-year-old man, who tried to rescue the trio, also died.
The deceased were identified as Venkatesh, 18, Sri Hariharan, 18, Logeshwaran, 18 and Mohan Kumar, 27. While Mohan Kumar was working in a private firm at Avinashi, Sri Hariharan, and Logeshwaran were first year BE Biomedical students at Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College at Vattamalaipalayam near Thudiyalur. Venkatesh was a first year BE Mechanical student at the same college, police sources said.
“The three students were staying in the college hostel. They had visited Aliyar dam to spend the holiday on Saturday. They ventured into Pallivilangal check dam near Aliyar Dam in the evening, even though they could not swim. When one of them began to drown, the others tried to help him, in vain. Seeing the trio drowning, Mohan Kumar, who was bathing nearby, swam towards them. But he also drowned,” a police officer said.
Local residents and police retrieved the bodies and sent them to the Pollachi Government Hospital for postmortem.
According to the public works department (PWD) officials, there is a ban on bathing in Aliyar dam and Pallivilangal check dam. “Though we have installed warning sign boards, people ignore them. We have decided to block the entry of the check dam,” PWD engineer Krishnan said.