Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Man drowned, another missing in Tamil Nadu dam

Thiruvananthapuram: Tragedy struck a six-member group of weekend holiday-makers from the city when one of them drowned and another went missing in the reservoir of Chitar dam in neighbouring Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu on Sunday afternoon.

The police identified the deceased as Siby Raveendran, 38, of Kowdiar, nephew of Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi. He was duty manager of the Etihad Airlines office here.

The missing person, Manu Gopinath, 34, was Siby’s relative and owned a paint shop in Neyyattinkara. The police fear that Manu might have drowned.

The tragedy occurred in a remote forested area in the Sivalokam catchment area of the dam around 1.30 p.m. Quoting one of the group members, Circle Inspector (Vellarada) Suresh Kumar said that Siby, Manu and Balu waded into the reservoir after having lunch. The rest of the group was waiting inside Siby’s car, which was parked a little away. Balu left Siby and Manu alone in the water for a few minutes and joined the rest of the group near the car. When he returned to the water’s edge, there was no sign of his friends, Mr. Suresh Kumar said.

The Tamil Nadu police launched a search-and-rescue operation around 4 p.m. They trawled the reservoir’s bottom with a grappling hook. Around 5 p.m., the police fished out Siby’s body. The search for Manu was given up at 7.30 p.m. The police could not get divers to scour the reservoir bed. The Navy will take up the task on Monday. An official said the underwater search would have been easier if the missing persons were wearing clothes. “If so, their clothes would have got tangled with the hook,” he said.

“Siby was an excellent professional and a total family man who dreaded entering water bodies,” said a colleague of his. Siby always took his family along on holidays. But this time, he had left them behind at home because his daughter, Anupama (a student of Bharat Vidya Bhavan, Manvila), was preparing for her seventh standard year-end examinations, he said.

Siby’s wife, Shalini, is a schoolteacher. His younger son, Anandu, is a Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, student. Siby’s body was being kept at the Asani Palloor Medical College Hospital in Nagercoil for post-mortem examination.

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