Hyderabad: Teen drowns in pool on first day of lessons

Hyderabad: A 15-year-old drowned on his first day at a swimming pool in Rajendranagar on Friday evening.

Mohammed Khaja Pasha and four friends had gone to practise swimming at A-Z pool in Rajendranagar. After practice, his friends left the pool to take a shower but Pasha remained in the 150 ft long and 7 ft deep pool. He was later found drowned.

Rajendranagar police has lodged a criminal case of negligence against the swimming pool owners and management officials.

The owners are absconding.

The incident was captured on a CCTV camera installed near the pool. The footage shows Pasha, who was alone around 7 pm, trying to swim.

Later, he was found fighting for breath in the deep end of the pool and struggling to return to the pool wall.

In the absence of a coach and his friends, the boy, a student of Kishanbagh madrasa, drowned. His friends later found his body floating. Questions on how they did not hear him scream or the absence of the coach lie unanswered.

Pasha’s aggrieved parents, who lost their only son, lodged a complaint at the Rajendranagar police station, alleging that there was no trained coach and proper instructor about the depth of the swimming pool on the premises.

Pasha’s father Moham-mad Yousuf said, “I received a call from Rajendranagar police around 8 pm. Till then we were in the dark,” Mr Yousuf said. “This was the first time my son went to practice swimming. The CCTV footage shows that none of the staff or coach were present when my son was in the pool. Nor was any attempt made to rescue him. There are no instructions at the pool to educate people about the depth. Why was there no coach when they charge '1,000 per month to teach swimming?”

The boy’s body was taken to Osmania General Hospital.

Post-mortem reports are awaited. Sub-inspector K. Rajeshwar Reddy, who is investigating the case, said, “We have registered a case under Section 304 (a) against swimming pool owners Wajaheddin and Amar. The accused are absconding. Further investigations are under way,”

The police are also investigating if the swimming pool had required licence from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.