4-year-old girl falls into well in Puzhal, dies

CHENNAI: A four-year-old girl met with a watery grave, when she slipped and fell into the well of her house and drowned at Puzhal, near here on Saturday. The victim, P Aarthi, was the third daughter of Prem Kumar and Maheswari. The couple resided on Alagiri Street at Kavangarai and Prem Kumar worked in a private company, sources here said. Aarthi and her siblings Rajalakshmi (8) and Sandhya (6) studied in a local school, while the youngest Anjali was just a year old.On Saturday morning, Aarthi, who joined LKG this year, had breakfast along with two of her sisters and came near a 40-foot-deep well at the back of her house to wash her hand. The well was brimming with water due to recent rain, the sources said. The little girl appears to have tried to take water from the well with a bucket and fell inside. On hearing the sound, her mother ran out. “I have no idea how she fell into the well,” Rajalakshmi told Express.Soon, neighbours informed the Red Hills fire station and rescue personnel arrived at the spot and brought Aarthi out. She died en route to Stanley medical college hospital. The Puzhal police are investigating the case.In fact, several houses have been demolished in Puzhal and open wells are dotting the area, posing danger to passersby in the area, sources said.