15-year-old boy goes for swim with friends in a Mumbai lake, drowns

The group ignored locals’ warning of not entering the lake.

A 15-year-old SSC student, who had gone with his 12 other friends to swim in Vihar Lake, drowned in it on Monday afternoon.

Prathamesh’s parents wait in hope at Vihar Lake, while the police and fire brigade personnel conduct search operations. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

The police said Prathamesh Mangesh Gavandi, a resident of Bangurla pada, ventured deep into the lake. At around 12.30pm, when his friends saw him splashing water in an effort to swim to the shore, they thought he was joking. “The friends initially thought he was joking but he soon became untraceable. They then raised an alarm and informed locals,” said a police officer.

The Mulund police and the fire brigade soon reached the spot and they found Prathamesh after looking for him for three hours. The police then registered an accidental death case. “We had always warned him against venturing into the water,” said Mangesh, the teenager’s father.

The group had first thought of going to Juhu but later decided to go to Vihar which lies within Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Police said the lake has seen many drowning cases in the past. “The local residents had warned the group against venturing in to the water. They had told them to roam around but not swim,” said Shripad Kale, senior police inspector, Mulund police station.

The police officials also said they will ask the civic body to put up a board asking people to not enter the lake as on an average more than 10 people drown there every year.