A 23-year-old woman and her 20-year-old sister were rescued by three police constables at the Marina Beach late on Sunday night after they allegedly attempted to take their own lives. The sisters, both from Teynampet, decided to take the drastic step as their parents were planning to apply for a divorce, police said. The women were both counselled and later sent home with their parents.

According to police, around 11.45 pm, the constables on patrol — Kumaresan, Sankar Kumar and Murugan — spotted the two women walking close to the water at the beach.

As they continued to walk deeper into the ocean, the cops sensed something was amiss and shouted at them to stop. They even called for help as the women did not listen to him, police added. The cops then ran across to them and physically prevented the women from venturing any further into the water, stated a report by The New Indian Express.

Upon questioning, they were initially evasive, but eventually the women told the constables about their parents' divorce, police said. They managed to convince the women to step away from the water and contacted a relative of theirs who rushed to the spot. The relative informed the women's parents, who also arrived. The family was taken to the nearby police station where the parents spoke to their daughters and pacified them, police said.

The eldest is a private company employee, while her sister is a second-year private college student, according to police. Currently, their parents are living together, but due to differences, they had initiated the process of applying for a divorce, they added, according to the report by The New Indian Express.

(If in distress or having suicidal thoughts, call 104 for health department’s helpline that offers counselling or 044- 24640050 for Sneha suicide helpline)