Four-year-old, grandparents drown in Hisar water tank

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, April 17

Farm labourer Ram Swaroop (55) and his wife Prem Vati (53) drowned in a water tank while trying to save their four-year-old grandson Yogesh in Mehjad village of the Hansi subdivision on Tuesday.

The incident occurred when Yogesh and his cousin Simran were playing near the water tank being used for irrigating the fields while Yogesh’s mother Rekha and grandparents were busy harvesting the crop in an adjoining field.

The family, belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, had been cultivating land owned by Kuldeep Vakil for many years. They had constructed a water tank to irrigate the land, which included a seven-acre horticulture farm.

Panchayat representative Satyawan said Ram Swaroop, Prem Vati and their daughter-in-law were busy in harvesting when Yogesh’s father Veerbhan dropped the children and left for some work.

Yogesh accidentally slipped and fell into the pond, following which Simran raised an alarm. Hearing her screams, Yogesh’s grandparents and mother rushed to save him.

All of them jumped into the pond one by one in an attempt to save the child. Seeing the family members drown in the pond, Simran rushed towards the village and found Manoj, a youth, at some distance.

Sensing that their lives were in danger, Manoj sought help from two other youths, Jogender and Sanjay, travelling on a road nearby on motorcycle.

Rekha caught hold of her son while trying to stay afloat near the slippery edge of the pond. Jogender and Sanjay jumped into the pond while Manoj extended a rope to them.

They fished out all victims from the pond. The youths rushed the Yogesh and his grandparents to the civil hospital in Hansi, where they were declared brought dead.

“Jogender and Sanjay, who are good swimmers, instantly jumped into the pond and fished out the child and his mother first,” said Satyawan.

“We had a tough time dragging Ram Swaroop and Prem Vati out as they were unconscious. They called land owner Kuldeep, who sent his son to the spot,” he said.

The water storage tank had been constructed in the fields under the horticulture promotion scheme of the state government and was around 12 feet deep, he said.

He said the entire village was in shock due to the tragedy. “The panchayat will meet the district authorities and seek financial aid for the family of the victims,” he said.