New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) A day of relaxation during a school holiday took a tragic turn in Delhi’s Timarpur area on Tuesday when two 13-year-old boys drowned in the Yamuna after venturing into deeper waters.
According to the police, the incident occurred around 1.30 pm when six children, all under the age of 15, went to the river to bathe. A call to the police regarding the drowning was received at the Timarpur police station around 2 pm, prompting the immediate response of police and rescue teams to the scene.
They further added that during the rescue operation, a boy was pulled out of the water and transported to the Trauma Centre in Civil Lines, where doctors pronounced him dead. The search for the other missing child continues.
A local said that a boy from the neighbourhood began shouting that the children were drowning, but his cries went unheard due to the noise from the open water gates. “He then called us, and we quickly sent a few boys to help. By the time we arrived, the police were already there, and rescue operations were in progress,” he said.
A local diver stated that they rushed to help as soon as they learned of the situation. “We heard that around six children had come there to play, and two of them went too deep and drowned. We immediately gathered as many divers as we could find, and even the nearby boat club joined the search efforts,” he said.
The mother of the child who is still missing broke down while discussing the incident, mourning her son. “He was in the seventh grade. It was a holiday, so he didn’t go to school. He went out to play with his friends,” she said.
“Some children came running to tell me that he had drowned. My husband has gone to look for him,” she added, sharing the family’s struggles. “My husband is a cook and also a cancer patient.” The father of the child who was found described it as a routine day that turned tragic. “Usually, he would have gone to his tuition, come home, eaten lunch, and then taken a nap. Today was a holiday,” he said.
He mentioned that children in the area frequently visit the river to play. “Many children go there to play and bathe. We cannot keep our children at home all the time. He must have gone a little deeper into the water and never returned,” he said.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Delhi Fire Services (DFS), and local police are actively engaged in the ongoing rescue operation. PTI SGV BM MPL MPL
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