Six-year-old girl drowns in waterlogged area near house in Delhi's Rohini

The incident took place after the girl allegedly fell into a waterlogged portion in Rama Vihar area on Thursday evening.

A six-year-old girl drowned in a waterlogged area near her house in Delhi's Rohini, an official said on Friday. The girl reportedly fell into a waterlogged portion in Rama Vihar area on Thursday evening.

The search team discovered the girl floating in a waterlogged portion close to her residence. (PTI/ Representational)

The police control room (PCR) received a call regarding the incident at around 6 pm, and the family reported that the child had gone missing from the locality. A police team was deployed and an extensive search was carried out in and around Rama Vihar, according to news agency PTI.

The search team discovered the girl floating in a waterlogged portion close to her residence, an official said. The child was then rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.

The child's body was preserved in a hospital for a post-mortem. While her family members had initially refused to allow an autopsy, they later consented, an officer said. The police said that further investigation and necessary proceedings were underway.

Child's slippers near waterlogged plot led to recovery

The father of the girl, Manoj, said that his younger daughter had been playing outside the home in the evening. “My elder daughter returned and told me that her sister was missing,” Manoj said, according to PTI.

He said that the family initially thought that the six-year-old had gone to their maternal grandmother's house nearby, and asked the elder daughter to check there first.

“But after about 15 minutes, she came back, and still, my younger daughter was nowhere to be found,” Manoj added.

He said the family turned “frantic” after this and approached the police to lodge a missing person report, following which teams arrived and searched “every nook and corner” of the locality.

“We checked the lanes, the parks, and every corner where a child could hide. But despite all our efforts, there was no trace of her,” PTI quoted the father as saying.

Amid the search, the police team found the child's slippers in a waterlogged plot nearby. Manoj said it was “shocking” to see that the water had accumulated to a depth of five to six feet.

“When they recovered her from that spot, we rushed her to two different hospitals, desperately hoping for a miracle. But tragically, she was declared dead,” he said.

Manoj also urged for greater safety measures in residential areas, calling the waterlogged section “extremely dangerous”.

“I hope authorities take strict measures to prevent such accidents in the future. No family should have to go through what we went through,” he said, according to PTI.