Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu): In a tragic incident, seven girls died on Sunday after drowning in a check dam built across the Gedilam river at Kuchipalayam near Cuddalore. The deceased have been identified as Navneetham (20), Priya (19), Priyadarshini (13), Kaviya (11), Sumutha (16), Monica (16), and Sangavi (15).
According to police sources, all the seven girls had gone to take bath in the water body. Initially, one girl was trapped in mud and called for help after which other girls went to rescue her but they all drowned. The incident occured around 12.45 pm on Sunday. The bodies of the seven girls were taken to the Cuddalore government hospital. Tamil Nadu agriculture minister MRK Panneerselvam, Cuddalore Collector Balasubramaniyam, Superintendent of police Sakthi Ganesan visited the hospital to express his condolences to the grieving families.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, in an official statement, condoled the deaths and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to each of the bereaved families. The ex-gratia amount was taken from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund. The dam was set up two years ago to retain water in the area. The dam is currently a muddy mess. Relatives blamed the failure to close the ditches dug on the river bank for the deaths.
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