Boy drowns in artificial Thane pond

Thane: A 7-year-old boy drowned after he went for a swim in an unguarded artificial pond at Ambeghosale lake in Rabodi on Friday, officials said. A TMC official said around 8pm he with his friends, residents of a nearby slum, scaled the boundary wall and entered the tank. “The tank is nearly seven feet deep and he failed to gauge its depth, and started drowning, following which his friends raised an alarm. Rescue teams reached the spot but he had lost consciousness and had to be sent to a hospital, where he was declared dead,” said Avinash Sawant, chief, regional disaster management cell, Thane. —Manoj Badgeri