Chennai: In a tragic incident, a 35-year-old woman government doctor drowned after the car in which she was driving got submerged in stagnant rain water at a subway near Thudiyalur in Pudukottai district of Tamilnadu late last night.
Sources said Dr S Sathya, attached to the Hosur Government Hospital in Krishnagiri district, was proceeding to her home town of Thudiyalur along with her mother-in-law Jayam, when the tragedy occurred.
Dr Sathya was driving the car when it got stuck in the subway beneath a railway track which was filled with about four feet of stagnant water following heavy rains.
In a bid to cross the subway, Sathya followed a lorry which managed to cross the railway underpass. But she could not cross it as water entered the car which was subsequently submerged in the water.
By the time, the crew of another lorry came to their rescue and pulled them out from the car, Dr Sathya died and they could save only her mother-in-law who was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital.
As news spread, residents of Thudiyalur and nearby villages staged a road blockade agitiation on the Pudukottai-Tiruchi road near Keeranur, blaming the Southern Railway and the district administration for the incident.
They also wanted that their long pending demand of a road over bridge instead of the existing underpass should be fulfilled to prevent recurrence of such incident.
The agitators dispersed after police and revenue officials and held talks with them and promised to take up the matter with the officials concerned.