Coimbatore: Fire and rescue service personnel rescued as many as 11 students of a private engineering college, who took refuge in reserve forest as water level in Bhavani river near Thekkampatti went up while they were taking bath, using a coracle.
According to police, a total of 15 students of Sree Sakthi Engineering College, Karamadai, had on Saturday gone to the Bhavani to take bath. When they were in the middle of the river, the water level suddenly rose as water was released from Pillur dam. While four students managed to come out of the river, the remaining swum to the other side of the river and were trapped in the reserve forest.
The escaped students alerted the forest department, which sought the help of fire and rescue service personnel at Mettupalayam.
Firemen went to the forest area using a coracle and rescued the students on Saturday night.