Coimbatore : Six members of a family, including five females, were drowned when the car in which they were travelling plunged into a canal near Pollachi in the early hours of Wednesday.

The deceased, belonging to Masakalipalayam in the city, have been identified as Prakash (45), his wife P. Chitra (40), their daughter Pooja (8), Prakash’s sister Sumathi (50) and sister in law P. Latha (42) and her daughter Dharani (9), police said.

The mishap happened at Kedimedu, some eight KMs from Pollachi around 2 AM, when they were returning after visiting a temple at Palani, and fell in to the canal attached to Parambikulam Aliyar Project, after Prakash lost control of the vehicle.

Fire and Rescue department personnel managed to pull out the submerged vehicle and retrieved all the bodies from it, police said.