MADURAI: Two youths drowned in a check dam of the Vaigai dam near Andipatti in Theni district on Friday.

The victims have been identified as V Lokesh of Ramalingapuram, Andipatti and S Sundar from the same locality. Six youths including the dead went to the check dam to take a bath on the polling day.

They were swept away by a sudden and heavy flow of water. Four others who accompanied them managed to escape.

The survivors alerted the Vaigai Dam police, who sought the services of Fire and Rescue services personnel from Andipatti station to help trace those victims and rescue them.

But their efforts went in vain as they could only recover the bodies of those drowned. Further sources said 1,000 cusecs of water were released from the Vaigai dam from 1 pm for the annual Chithirai festival in Madurai.