Eight-year-old boy drowns at house

In a tragic incident, an eight-year-old child, Vikas Jha, drowned at his house in New Puneet Nagar on Monday. The incident occurred when a wall of the house collapsed and rainwater accumulated in the adjoining plot gushed into the house, further collapsing the girder roofs of two rooms. The deceased’s father managed to rescue two children of his sister-in-law while unfortunately when he went to rescue his son, he could not be saved.

The deceased was studying in Class II. His father, Shambhu Nath, is a factory worker.

Pawan Jha, uncle of the deceased, said the incident occurred around 9 am when Shambu Nath, along with his wife, son, sister-in-law and her two children, was present in the house. Since it was raining heavily, rainwater accumulated in the plot adjoining their house. Later, a wall adjoining to the plot collapsed, leading to further collapse of the roofs of two rooms. Following which, water also entered the house.

“As the house was completely inundated and roofs also collapsed, the deceased’s father managed to rescue his wife, sister-in-law and her two children but when he tried to locate his own son, he failed to find him initially. Later, I, along with the boy’s father, went inside the house and found the victim lying in the water. He was rushed to the CMCH where the child was declared brought dead by doctors,” he said.

Pawan said though roofs of two rooms collapsed, none of the family members got stuck beneath the debris. The boy died due to drowning.

ASI Ravinder Kumar said since it was heavily raining, rainwater had already been accumulating inside the house. The collapse of the wall actually caused the tragedy due to which water flowed into the house.

“The level of the house was lower than the main road. There are other houses in the lane where rainwater has already accumulated. We have told residents to vacate the houses to prevent similar tragedies in the future,” he said.