Eight-year-old drowns in roadside pit

Two others who also fell in, were rescued

MUMBAI: An eight-year-old boy drowned after accidentally falling into a roadside pit in Ghatkopar (West) on Friday night. Vishal Rajendra Pagare, a Class VII student, died while two others, Rahul Hule, 6, and Tushar Chitale, 7, both in the sixth standard, had a close shave when the three of them fell into the pit. They were all students of Sainath Nagar Municipal School in Ghatkopar.
 
According to the police, the incident occurred at 10pm near the Gangawadi Housing Society on the Ghatkopar-Andheri Link Road. The boys were going to a friend’s house to collect some notes and hadn’t noticed a pit full of water near the road. “The pit was covered with plastic bags. When we stepped onto the bags, they gave way and we landed in the water,” Hule said. A man named Shravan saw them fall and jumped in to save them.

While Shravan managed to rescue Rahul and Tushar, he could not find Pagare and alerted the Gangawadi Housing Society. They finally fished out his body after one-and-a-half-hours. Housing society residents alleged neglect by the MMRDA. “MMRDA officials did not cover the pit after work, or even put up a notice cautioning people,” said Kumar Pande Patil, Shiv Sena corporator of Ward 120.

MMRDA chief engineer SR Nandagirikar, however, refuted this, saying: “We have not started work in that locality yet. We are waiting for the police report on the incident.”  

narayan@dnaindia.net