3 teens drown in pit filled with rainwater in southeast Delhi

NEW DELHI: Three boys drowned in a pit filled with rainwater in southeast Delhi’s Tughlaqabad on Thursday. The deceased were identified as Rishabh (16), Piyush (13) and Prithvik (15). They lived with their families in JJ Colony in Khanpur.
Police said they received a PCR call at 2.38 pm regarding the incident that took place at Kaya Maya Park. A team from the local police station reached the spot. One boy named Lucky told the cops that he, along with his seven other friends, came to take a bath in the park. “When they were busy taking bath, three of his friends went deep inside a pit and started drowning, and after some time, they disappeared into the water,” police said.
After a search of about 30 minutes, all the three children were fished out of the water and sent to a hospital. They were declared dead. Rishabh was a Class XI student, whereas the other two deceased were students of class VIII and X, respectively.
Delhi Disaster Management Authority said that the park is so designed that a depression exists there. It turns into a natural pond if it rains. It was filled to around six feet recently, a DDMA official said.
Prithvik’s father, Nijay Singh, said his son had turned 15 just two days before the incident. “In the afternoon, my son left home, saying that he was going outside to play with his friends. The pit was dug inside the park possibly to collect rainwater, and there was no caretaker,” he claimed, adding that Prithvik went to save his friends but was trapped in the pit.
Rishabh’s father, Azad Singh, who drives a cab, also said that his son had gone to the park with his friends.
This comes two days after six children, aged between eight and 13, drowned in a rainwater-filled pond in Gurgaon on Sunday.