Dharmapuri: A timely alert by Rangasamy, 45, a coracle operator, helped avert another major tragedy with the police saving 12 people from drowning in the waters of the Cauvery at Hogenakkal, Dharmapuri district.
Police said a team of picnickers from Alleppy in Kerala, who had come to Hogenakkal on Sunday, went to Paarisal Thurai from where they entered the Cauvery. Unaware of the risks involved, the youths tried to reach a rock in the middle of the river at Erumaisal Parai, close to the Cine Falls in Hogenakkal.
They waded into the rushing waters in a line, holding hands and trouble started when one among them was dragged inside by the gushing waters. Having stepped on a slippery rock, he was washed away and others who tried to save him also met a similar fate.
Rangasamy, who saw the youths crying for help, swung into action. He called the police and also helped saved a few people before the police could rescue the others with the help of local fishermen.
If the coracle operator had not noticed the incident, Hogenakkal may have been the venue for another major tragedy like the incident in which sic of a family drowned to death in a coracle mishap barely one week ago.
On August 30, six of a family of nine from Chennai drowned after the coracle that was ferrying them toppled at Maanal Thittu in Hogenakkal.
