Three college students drowned to death in a stone quarry in Keerapakkam of Chengalpattu taluk in Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, May 1.

The trio had gone swimming along with two other fronts. The students had ignored caution notices and boards that advised against swimming in the deep quarry. They have been identified as second-year engineering students at a private college in Kattankulathur - Deepak Sarathy (20) of Udumalpet, Mohammed Ismail (19) of Mannargudi, and S Vijay Sarathy (19) of Dharmapuri. 

Speaking to TNM, District Fire Officer of Chengalpattu district K Rajeshkannan said the quarry had been abandoned for more than 10 years. He further said, “Despite notices and signs alerting people that the quarry is a restricted area and that no one should be there, people still go there for recreation,” the officer said. He also highlighted the need for greater public awareness and construction of a boundary wall for the quarry.

The incident happened around 6 pm. Two other friends, Surya and Abdul, who were with them could not help as the quarry was too deep. They alerted nearby residents, who launched rescue efforts. After failing to locate the three youngsters, they informed the Kayar police station in Chengalpattu about the incident.

Rajeshkannan said the Chengalpattu Emergency Department received the call by around 7 pm in the evening on May 1. The Fire and Rescue team from Marimalai Nagar arrived at the spot immediately and started a search operation, but they had to abandon it because of poor lighting. They resumed the search early next morning with the help of the scuba diving rescue team of Marina. While the body of one of the students was recovered immediately, bodies of two others were recovered at around 3 pm on May 2.

“Around eight people have died in the same quarry in Keerapakkam,” Rajeshkannan said.