A 23-year-old woman died, allegedly after jumping off a bridge into the Meenachil River at Cherpunkal near Pala in Kottayam on Friday morning. Emmi Udayan, a native of Vayala in the district, was employed as a housekeeping staff member at a private hospital in Pala.

The incident occurred around 8.30 am while Emmi was on her way to work. According to her neighbour Gopinath, she left home on the same bus she used to every day, got down at Cherpunkal Junction and began walking towards the hospital, located about a kilometre away.

"As far as we understand, she followed her usual routine. However, while crossing the Cherpunkal bridge, she jumped into the Meenachil River," Gopinath said. Before jumping, Emmi left her bag and footwear on the bridge. Passers-by noticed the belongings and alerted the police and Fire and Rescue Services.

A joint search operation involving scuba teams from the fire stations in Pala, Kottayam, Vaikom and Erattupetta, along with a local voluntary rescue team, was launched. Emmi was located around 12.30 pm, about 60 metres downstream from the spot where she had jumped into the river.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead. "Her body was found around 60 metres away from the point where she jumped," a Fire and Rescue Services official said.

Gopinath said Emmi was identified through the ID cards found inside the bag she left on the bridge. He added that her aunt had noticed she appeared unusually quiet earlier that morning, but nothing seemed serious enough to raise concern.

"To the best of our knowledge, she had no issues either at home or at her workplace that could have led to such a step," he said. Emmi is survived by her father Udayan, mother Omana and two younger siblings.

Police have completed the inquest and sent the body for postmortem, scheduled for Saturday. It will be handed over to the family afterwards.