Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Dec 27: A woman accidentally slipped and drowned in a pond located in an areca nut farm located near her home. The lady was picking areca nuts when this tragedy happened at Paniyur in Belapu village in the taluk.

The victim has been identified as Sudha Tantry (63), wife of Narayana Tantry, residing at Acharya House, Paniyur.

Sudha had left home to pick areca nuts early in the morning. As she did not return for long, her husband went in search of her. He saw that Sudha had fallen into the pond. After he raised an alarm, people living in the neighbourhood rushed there. With their help, the lady was brought out of the pond and taken to a private hospital in the town in an ambulance. But she did not survive the journey to the hospital.

It is suspected that the woman would have slipped into the pond while washing her face after going down the steps to the water. This poor couple living at the farm house have no children. It is also being claimed that the woman had suffered a bout of depression recently. Her husband works in the local temple as assistant priest.