The bodies of three of the four women, who had been washed away in the flash floods was fished out from the jungle river. The search is on to fish out the fourth one. The four women devotees were caught in a flash flood in a jungle river while returning from a visit to the Segur Anical Mariamman temple near Ooty yesterday. An ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each had been announced for the families of the deceased.
The Nilgiris: The bodies of three of the four women who had been washed away in the flash floods was recovered. The search is on to fish out the fourth one.
The four women devotees were caught in a flash flood in a jungle river while returning from a visit to the Segur Anical Mariamman temple near Ooty.
Nilgiris District Collector Amrith visited the spot where the drowing accident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased.
It may be recalled that a joint search operation of Fire service personnel, forest and police was launched to to the fish out the four women devotees, who went missing while crossing a jungle river even as they were returning from a visit to the Anical Mariamman temple in Segur forest area near Ooty.
The famous Anical Mariamman Temple is located in the Segur forest area near Ooty in the Nilgiris district. It is customary for this temple to be opened for darshan only on special days and occassions.
When, the temple was opened yesterday on the occasion of Karthigai Deepam festival and pujas were duly performed, devotees had thronged the temple from various parts of Ooty, Kotagiri and surrounding rural areas in large numbers.
The devotees had to to cross the Anical river to reach this temple which is situated in a forested area.
Even as there was flash floods during the return journey of devotees, some of the women devotees were caught in the flash floods and were washed away.
The names of the missing persons who had been washed away in the flash floods were given as Saroja (65), Vasuki (45), Vimala (35) and Susheela (56), all residents of Jekkalorai village under Kadanadu panchayat near Ooty.
However, due to the night hours and heavy flow of water in the jungle river, the search for the four missing persons was suspended temporarily by yesterday evening.
The joint operation resumed at 7 am today and more than 100 fire, forest and police personnel are engaged in the search operation and were divided into teams and combed the jungle stream and adjacent areas to fish out the missing persons.
Due to the intensive search operation, the bodies of Saroja, Vasuki and Vimala were found at about two kilometers away from drowning spot.
However, susheela's body could not be found even after searching for more than seven hours and the search team is actively searching for her body.
Nilgiris District Collector Amrith who inspected the spot said that the roads leading to the temples in the Segur forest area are in a bad shape and it will be repaired soon.
In the meanwhile, the villagers demanded that the government should provide jobs to the legal heirs of the deceased women as their families are in steeped in poverty.
It is to be noted that the three of women who met their untimely watery grave Saroja, Vasuki and Vimala, belong to the same family.