CHENNAI: Two school boys, aged 13 and 12, drowned in a pond near Thalambur on Friday. The deceased children were identified as R Srisudhan (13), and his friend Jaswanth (12).

Both of them are residents of Anna Street in Thalambur. Both the boys were studying class 8 at a private school in their neighbourhood. The boys on Friday evening headed to a pond in Semmenchery for fishing and swimming.

The boys started struggling while playing on the pond and cried for help after which onlookers who were on the banks jumped into the water to rescue the boys. The public managed to fish out the boys. However, after a futile attempt to resuscitate the boys, the public rushed them to a private hospital nearby where they were declared dead on arrival.

On receiving information, Semmenchery police moved their bodies to a government hospital for post-mortem examination. A case has been registered and further investigations are on.