8-yr-old drowns in Andheri pool

An eight-year-old boy drowned in the swimming pool at Shahaji Raje Bhosale Sports complex in Andheri on Friday, reports HT Correspondent.

An eight-year-old boy drowned in the swimming pool at Shahaji Raje Bhosale Sports complex in Andheri on Friday.

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The incident happened two days after the pool was inaugurated.

Kasim Siddhiqui, an Andheri resident, was a student of Saint Xaviers school in Vile Parle. Kasim’s mother Siddiqua is a teacher in a civic school.

The boy was a member of the swimming pool.

“He suddenly went into the deeper portion of the pool and started to drown. The trainer noticed and jumped to save them,” said Kailash Ghamande, senior police inspector, Amboli police station.

“After he was rescued, he was breathless and was rushed to Cooper Hospital. And he was declared dead on admission,” added Ghamande.

The boy’s mother said that she had gone with Kasim to the sports complex and was watching her son swim. Kasim has won swimming awards in the past.

It was another boy who first noticed that Kasim had not surfaced from the water. He alerted the others. His body was fished out from the water.

The sources said the three swimming guards who were around the pool were not paying attention to the children swimming.

On Friday morning, Swabhiman Sanghatana, an non-government organisation, led by Revenue Minister Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh agitated outside the Andheri Sports Complex protesting against the BMC supplying drinking water to the pool.

The civic body has stopped supply to all other private swimming pools.

“It is irresponsible that during the time of crisis, BMC supplies drinking water for the swimming pool,” said Nitesh Rane, president of the Sanghatana.

The police have arrested 45 Sanghatana workers for protesting.