Five girls, all aged below 12, drowned in quarry pits in two separate incidents at Daddikalpane on Sunday noon.
According to the police, three sisters — Meghashree Shettigar (12), Vanishree (11) and Yakshitha (6) — drowned in a quarry, which was submerged in rain water, behind their house at Daddikalpane, 8 km from Moodbidri. Barely a few minutes earlier, two sisters — Suraksha (7) and Sukanya (4) — drowned in a pit dug in a quarry beside their house at Darkasu, 14 km north of Moodbidri.
Vasudev Shettigar, father of Meghashree, Vanishree and Yakshitha, works in a cloth store, while Sita, their mother, rolls beedies in the house. The girls were students of the Government Higher Primary School at Daddi. Bajpe police have registered a case against Monappa Gowda, who owns the land where the quarry is located.
In the second incident, Moodbidri police said when sisters Suraksha and Sukanya were playing in the backyard, Sukanya slipped into the quarry. Suraksha dived into it to save her sister. But by the time Suraksha was pulled out of the ditch, she was dead; and Sukanya’s body was retrieved a few minutes later, said police.
The girls’ father, Suresh V., is a daily wage labourer.
B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, MLA, announced a compensation of Rs. 1.5 lakh for the kin of each of the dead girls.
(The Hindu)
