10-year-old boy drowns in Navi Mumbai pond

Tushar Rankhambe stayed with his parents in the village. Around 1 pm after returning from school, he had gone for a swim in the village pond, the police said.

A 10-year-old boy from Jui village in Kamothe drowned in a pond on Monday. His body was fished out of water by the fire brigade officials in the evening.

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According to the police, Tushar Rankhambe stayed with his parents in the village. Around 1 pm after returning from school, he had gone for a swim in the village pond.

“The boy’s parents were not home and hence, they were not aware that the boy had been to the pond. On reaching home in the afternoon, the boy’s parents did not find him, and started a futile search for him in the village. Later, they found the boys clothes on the bank of pond,” said a police officer from Kamothe police station.

“The worried parents informed us about their missing son. We called the fire brigade officials who fished the body out around 5.30 pm,” he said.

“Prima facie, it appears that the boy drowned because he was not a good swimmer. Unfortunately, there was no one around to save him. We have registered case of accidental death,” another police officer said.

“The boy was a Class five student in a local government school. The initial medical reports suggested that he died due to suffocation from drowning. We will take statements of his family members, friends and other people from the neighbourhood to get more details,” the officer said.

The deceased’s body was sent to Panvel rural hospital for postmortem, after which it was given to his family. The postmortem reports are yet to come.

Ashok Naik, senior police inspector of Kamothe police station said, “No one has claimed to have seen the boy getting into the pond. So for now, we believe that he was alone by the pond. But we are investigating to find out if some of his friends or any other people from the village were with him when the incident took place.”