Three Class 12 students drowned while attempting to take a bath in a floodwater drainage channel in Tirunelveli district on Sunday afternoon. The victims were identified as J Arunkumar, 17, of Jothipuram, W Nikil, 17, of Tuckermarpuram, and R Andrews, 17, of Konkanthanparai. All three were students at a private school in Jothipuram, TOI reported.
According to reports, the boys had gone to attend a classmate’s housewarming ceremony at Vadukoorpatti, near Munneerpallam on the outskirts of Tirunelveli. After lunch, they visited the drainage channel about 500 meters from the house. Six boys entered the water to cool off from the heat, but Arunkumar, Nikil, and Andrews ventured into a deeper section and drowned, according to authorities.
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The other boys alerted nearby villagers, who contacted police and fire rescue personnel. Rescue teams from Pettai and Cheranmahadevi retrieved the bodies from the channel, but all three were pronounced dead. The bodies were sent to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital for postmortem examination. Munneerpallam police have registered a case and are investigating the incident.