Rain water pit claims four lives in Kundapur

TOI

Kundapur, 02 Jul 2012: A large open rain water percolation pit dug up by the Hattiyangady gram panchayat of Kundapur taluk in Udupi district has resulted in the death of four children on Sunday.

 

The children who went to play near the pit were found missing by the parents in the evening and their bodies were found on Sunday night.

 

The deceased are Nayana (20), Naveen (13), Pavan (11) and Pavithra (16). While Pavithra is the daughter of Manjunath of Namma Bhoomi organization, the rest are his elder sister’s children.

 

Being a Sunday, the children had ventured near the pit which was filled with water due to continuous rains lashing the coast since the past three days. Incidentally Kundapur recorded 95 mm of rainfall till Sunday morning, the highest in the state. Though villagers had seen the children playing near the pit, none thought they would go near the pit which was full of water.

 

When the children did not return late in the evening, a search was carried out by the villagers who found their footwear near the pit. The villagers found the body of Nayana first and later the fire department personnel recovered the rest of the three bodies from the pit.

 

Villagers suspect that one of the children may have accidentally fallen into the pit and the rest may have tried to rescue them and in the attempt, all may have drowned.