Chennai: Four children, two girls among them, who went missing from Chromepet on Saturday afternoon were found dead in Thiruneermalai Periya Eri on Sunday morning. Police suspect they drowned after entering the lake to swim.The deceased — Devadharshan, 12, a Class VII student at a govt school in Chromepet; Yuvanesh, 10, a Class VI student at a private school; and Pooja, 13, and Kushi, 13, both studying Class VIII at a govt school in Chromepet — resided at Lakshmipuram and were friends, police said.They played near their homes on Saturday afternoon before leaving the locality together. When they did not return, their families began a search with the help of relatives and friends. Photographs and details of the children were circulated on local WhatsApp groups. Devadharshan’s and Yuvanesh’s parents filed complaints with Chromepet police on Saturday night.Police initially suspected that the four may have gone on an outing. They checked Tambaram, Egmore and Chennai Central railway stations, as well as Kilambakkam bus terminus. They also examined CCTV footage from several locations to trace the children.Around 10am on Sunday, residents spotted the bodies of the children floating in Thiruneermalai Periya Eri near Lakshmipuram and called the police. Chromepet police rushed to the spot, and personnel from Tambaram fire and rescue services retrieved the bodies. The bodies were sent to Chromepet Government Hospital for postmortem.A preliminary inquiry indicated that the children may have gone to the lake to swim and drowned after getting trapped in slush, police said. Investigators are trying to establish how they reached the lake and the exact circumstances that led to their deaths. “We had checked the lake area at night but did not find them,” said Sunil Kumar, a neighbour of one of the victims. “The kids had sneaked out to the lake area at least twice earlier. However, we managed to bring them back home. Now, we lost them forever,” he said.
