Two friends drown in Dombivli

Dombivli It turned out to be a tragic Sunday for Kedare and Gupta families

Dombivli It turned out to be a tragic Sunday for Kedare and Gupta families. The two 14-year-old boys, Ankush Kedare and Ayush Gupta, drowned at a Dombivli quarry on Sunday afternoon. Six boys went into the muddy waters of the quarry, but only four managed to come out. It took fire brigade officials an hour to fish out the bodies from the water.

Kalyan , india- October 09 2022: Pic : Two 14 years old boys drowned to death in a Dombivli-based quarry on Sunday afternoon while they went out to play on their bicycles and then got into a quarry for swimming in Bhopar village of Dombivli ._ in India on Sunday 09 2022 (Photo by Pramod tambe /HT Photo)

Ankush and Ayush, residents of the Jyoti Nagar Slum area near Ahire village, had left their house after breakfast around 11 am and joined four others to spend their Sunday swimming at the quarry near the Bhopar area.

It was 32-year-old Satish Mhatre who first heard the cries of help while he was passing the khadan (quarry). “I was passing from the kachha road by the at around 11.50 am when I heard these children crying out loud for help. Although four friends came out of the water, two went missing. I immediately called the fire brigade who reached the spot within 20 minutes and started their operation,” Mhatre narrated the incident.

Fire brigade officer, Sudhir Doshi, and his six officers entered the water around 12.30 pm and found the bodies within an hour. Doshi said, “The water is muddy so it took a while, but we managed to recover the bodies and handed them over to the Manpada police.”

The police have registered a case of accidental death. A team of officers also visited the nearby area and warned everyone to keep away from quarry water.

Senior police inspector, Shekhar Bagade said, “The land in that area has been dug up in the past four-five years. During monsoon, it gets filled with water which is used by people for their daily use. It is very risky to enter the water due to the lack of knowledge of its depth. We have asked citizens not to enter it.”

Milind Kedare’s only son Ankush, who died in the incident, is a daily wage labourer. “My neighbours informed me about the tragedy. I rushed to the spot only to see Ankush’s body. I had warned him several times to keep away from quarry. Whom to blame now that I have lost my only son.”

The Gupta family is yet to recover from the shock.