A 16-year-old boy drowned while trying to take a selfie in an abandoned stone quarry at Sulur on Wednesday.
The victim, R. Harikishore (16), was a final year diploma student in a private college near Hope College.
Harikishore and eight of his friends went to their friend’s house at Maruthathevar Street in Sulur. Around 2 p.m., the boys went to the quarry in Umarjothi Nagar.
Enjoying the locale, the boys started taking selfies. Harikishore decided to click a picture standing on the edge of a rock. For a better angle, he took one step back, slipped and fell into the quarry pit, police sources said.
His friends, who did not know swimming, informed Fire and Rescue Services personnel. The rescuers from Palladam managed to recover the teenager’s body after a one-and-a-half hour struggle.
The body was sent to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination.
People of the locality said that about two months ago social activists took pictures of the 70-feet-deep abandoned quarry (that had water for a depth of 20 ft) and gave it to the revenue officials including the Tahsildar. “We urged the officials to close it as children played there and it posed a threat to their lives,” a resident said