Hyderabad: Boy ventures into pool area, drowns

Hyderabad: Vanga Vashishta, 5, died at the hospital where he was admitted for treatment after he drowned in an unsupervised swimming pool at Manjeera Diamond Towers, a gated community in Nallagandla with more than 1,000 flats, on June 4.

Vashishta first dropped his handkerchief in the pool and then jumped in to retrieve it. There was no lifeguard or watchman guarding the pool area at the time. The five-year-old was fighting for breath when a resident noticed him, rushed to the pool, and managed to pull him out. Vashishta was then rushed to a private hospital where he died while in treatment. His body was later taken to Gandhi Hospital for its post-mortem examination. Vashishta’s parents have lodged a complaint against the maintenance contractor, Capital Protection Force, for not deploying lifeguards at the pool.

The victim’s family lives on the ground floor, H Block. “Vashishta went out for a bicycle ride around 10 am. His mother, grandmother, and aunt were all  home then. He later entered the swimming pool area, which was temporarily declared a restricted zone. None of us realised he went there, though, because it wasn’t his usual thing to do. He had never bothered entering the pool area before that day,” Vashishta’s father Vanga Aditya Kiran said.

The CCTV footage shows Vashishta playing in the garden next to the pool. He is then seen entering the pool area, throwing his handkerchief into the pool, and retrieving it. He did it once again, a litter further. The footage then shows him jumping into the water.

Mr Kiran said Vashishta struggled for about 15 minutes before a resident noticed him and rescued him. The family received an alert around 11.45 am. The community resident welfare association (RWA) explained that it took a while to find out whose child Vashishta was.

In a statement explaining the chronology of events, Manjeera Diamond Towers RWA said that on June 3, a security guard was posted at the pool as a precautionary measure since borewell work was in progress. The work was completed around 2 am on June 4. A part of the fencing had been removed to carry out the borewell works, and a notice of the same was posted on the society portal.

On June 4, a Health Life Water Proof lifeguard was available at the pool. According to the RWA, the lifeguard reported feeling unwell and left at 10.30 pm. However, the society’s security wing was not informed about it. “If the lifeguard on duty is leaving the place before the end of duty hours, then he/she should ideally inform the security wing so they replace him with a security guard to prevent such incidents. The pool was left unguarded because the security wing had no idea that the guard had left. Unfortunately, that is when the incident took place.”

Chandanagar police have filed a case under Section 304 of the IPC against Health Life Water Proof proprietor Suresh, supervisor Raju, Avon Facility Management Services, and Capital Protection Force, and are awaiting the post-mortem report before they proceed with the investigation.