Pathanamthitta: Two men, identified as Midhun and Devan, drowned after their wooden boat capsized while fishing in a waterlogged paddy field at Nellickal on Sunday evening. The incident happened around 6.30 pm, when the duo, along with a friend, ventured into the flooded field, which had been inundated following days of heavy rainfall in the region.

A search operation is underway to locate the third person, a friend of the deceased, who remains missing.

“This area often gets submerged during the monsoon. One of the victims was a local resident, and the others were known to be his friends. When the boat overturned, it was the local residents who first rushed in for rescue. The fire and rescue team was alerted soon after,” said Koippuram panchayat president Sujatha P.

The bodies have been shifted to the mortuary of a private hospital in Thiruvalla. “People often fish in this area. We suspect the fishing net might have gotten entangled underwater, and in the effort to retrieve it, the boat may have lost balance and capsized,” she added.