Boy dies after falling into open drain in Ghaziabad

An 11-year-old boy died after falling into an open drain while playing near his house in Ghaziabad, police said on Friday.

The incident occurred on Wednesday evening in Mazra Jhundpura village. The boy, identified as Ahil, was playing near his house when he accidentally fell into the 2.5-foot-deep drain, according to the police.

Family members and neighbours pulled him out and, after cleaning him with warm water, rushed him in an unconscious state to a hospital in Pilkhuwa town of neighbouring Hapur district, where he died, police said.

After completing legal formalities and conducting the postmortem, the body was handed over to the family by the Pilkhuwa police. Ahil was laid to rest on Thursday.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Masuri) Lipi Nagaich said the local police were not informed immediately about the incident.

Angry residents alleged negligence on the part of the local administration, claiming that the drain was not covered or secured with a boundary wall despite children frequently playing in the area. They also pointed out that on January 8, a five-month-old boy had died after falling into an open drain in Momin Colony.

The boy was left unattended outside the house when the incident took place.

The locals said no improvement had been made by the civic body despite the earlier incident and added that they would raise the issue of alleged negligence before the district magistrate.

Ahil’s father, Zahid, a plumber by profession, is originally from Soharkha village in Greater Noida and currently lives in Mazra Jhundpura with his wife and children, police said.

The incident comes close on the heels of the death of a software engineer in nearby Noida, whose car fell into a deep, water-filled trench amid dense fog in the city’s Sector 150.