5 drown in temple pond while carrying out ritual in Chennai

On Wednesday, as a part of the Theerthavari festival, the priests brought the deity from the temple to the pond. Over 30 people entered the pond to carry out the rituals.

The authorities noted that only a few of them were priests associated with the Dharmalingeshwarar temple, while the rest of them were volunteers helping in the temple rituals. A video taken by a devotee shows a few priests holding the deity while the rest are standing around them.

Sources said one of the volunteers got stuck in the deeper part of the pond and when the rest tried to rescue him, all of them drowned. The local police were alerted and the Fire and Rescue Personnel reached the spot and fished out the bodies which were sent to the Chromepet Government Hospital. Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal and other officials also visited the spot.

Tamil Nadu Cabinet Minister Tha Mo Anbarasan and Chengalpattu district collector A R Rahul Nadh reached the hospital where the bodies were brought for post-mortem.

The deceased were identified as Raghavan (22), Suriya (23), Vanesh (18) of Nanganallur, Yogeshwaran (22) of Keelkattalai and Raghav (18) of Pazhavanthangal.

Five people were drowned to death at a temple tank during a ritual at Nanganallur in Chennai. The bodies were rescued after an hour and sent to post-mortem. The deceased identified as Raghav, Suriya, Raghavan, Yogeshwaran and Vanish are aged between 18-22. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/WDRRvaGxxS

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The minister said, “All of them are young. I am deeply pained by this unfortunate incident. The festival should have been organised with proper safety measures. It happened due to lack of safety measures. I express my deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. There is no doubt that the Chief Minister will help the affected families.” He noted that the temple is a private one and not attached to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR and CE). The police said that the pond has been closed and they are carrying our further inquiry into the incident.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased. He also announced a solatium of Rs two lakh each to the next of kins of the deceased from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund.