Five-year-old boy dies after falling into sewage drain in Tiruchi

A five-year-old boy died after falling into an open sewage drain near Thennur here on Wednesday.

The boy, P. Yashwanth, was playing in front of his house at Annai Sathya Nagar in the evening and was found missing thereafter. Police sources said the boy had gone towards a guava tree some distance away from the house, where the open drain runs, before disappearing.

The boy is said to have climbed onto a temporary wooden plank placed atop a portion of the sewage drain. The plank broke and he fell into the drain and died, said the police.

The boy’s parents, who launched a frantic search, checked the drain in the night and found the body inside. The body was taken to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital for a post-mortem. The Thillai Nagar police have registered a case.

Man dies

In another incident, a man aged around 50 years died after falling into a roadside pit filled with rain water adjoining the Thirumayam-Karaikudi Bypass Road near Thirumayam in Pudukottai district on Wednesday.

Local residents on Thursday morning found the body of the man, who was identified as V. Pandi of Thirumayam. Police sources said Pandi was an alcoholic and suspect that he could have fallen into the pit in an inebriated condition. Thirumayam police have registered a case under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.