A four-and-a-half-year-old boy drowned in the swimming pool of Hyde Park Society in Sector 35 in Kharghar on Sunday.
Manbir Singh Banwayat, son of Satnam Singh, an automobile engineer based in London, was staying with his grandfather, Sukhdev Singh, and mother at Gokuldham Society in Kharghar for the last one year. He was due to leave for London this year to join school.
“In London, they don’t admit children to school before they turn five. He and his mother had come down to India for a year to stay with us,” said Sukhdev Singh, the child’s grandfather.
The incident took place when the child accompanied his mother to Hyde Park Society to meet a relative. Mr. Singh said, “The mother was sitting in the garden and the child was playing around. Suddenly she realised the child was missing. She searched for him everywhere and finally found him dead in a pool. Owing to technical issues, the pool had been closed for four days and no one was around to save the child.
“Societies should put up fences around swimming pools. He must have got excited seeing the pool and went inside to play with water.” Manbir was rushed to the hospital and was found to be having very weak pulse. Doctors tried their best to revive him, but he could not be saved.
Manbir was the only child of the couple who have been married for six years. His father, who was in London when the incident took place, arrived in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday morning. A case of accidental death has been registered with Kharghar police.