Daijiworld Media Network - Chennai
Chennai, Oct 4: Four schoolchildren who went missing from their homes on Saturday were found dead in Thiruneermalai lake on Sunday, police said.
The victims, two boys and two girls, were friends and lived on Krishna Street in Lakshmipuram, Chromepet. Police identified them as K. Devadarshan, 12, D. Yuvanesh, 10, and Pooja and Khushi, both 13.
Devadarshan was a Class 7 student at a government school, while Pooja and Khushi were studying in Class 8 at a government school. Yuvanesh was a Class 6 student at a private school.
According to police, the children were last seen playing together near their homes on Saturday afternoon. They later left the neighbourhood and did not return, prompting their families to launch a search.
The parents contacted relatives and friends and circulated the children's photographs in local WhatsApp groups, while residents were urged to provide any information about their whereabouts.
As the children remained untraceable late into the night, the parents of the two boys lodged a missing persons complaint at the Chromepet police station.
Police subsequently alerted personnel at Tambaram, Egmore and Chennai Central railway stations, as well as the Kelambakkam bus terminus, asking them to check whether the children had travelled outside the area.
The search ended in tragedy on Sunday when members of the public visiting Thiruneermalai Periya Eri near Lakshmipuram spotted four bodies floating in the water and alerted authorities.
Police and Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services personnel reached the lake and retrieved the bodies.
The bodies were brought ashore and identified by the children's family members. They were subsequently sent to the mortuary at Tambaram District Government Hospital for post-mortem examinations.
Investigators are trying to establish how the children reached the lake and the circumstances in which they entered the water. Police suspect they may have become trapped in slush and drowned, but the sequence of events leading to their deaths has not yet been established.
Police enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the deaths are continuing.