CHENNAI: Two young boys lost their lives after drowning in a pond while trying to fish using a hook and line near Somangalam in Kancheepuram district. The incident has cast a pall of sorrow over the community, as the children were visiting their grandmother’s home for the summer break.
The deceased have been identified as Charan (10), a fifth-grade student from Navalur, and his cousin Joshua, son of Charan’s maternal uncle.
According to police, the boys had gone to stay at their grandmother’s house in Irumbapedu village, near Somangalam, due to the summer holidays. On Thursday evening, they told family members they were going out to play, but instead purchased fishing hooks from a local shop and headed to a nearby pond.
When the boys failed to return home by night, relatives began searching. A shopkeeper informed them that the children had bought fishing hooks and gone toward the pond.
At the pond, family members found the boys’ slippers lying on the bank. With the help of neighbours, they searched the water and soon discovered both children unconscious in a deep section. They were rushed by ambulance to the Sriperumbudur Government Hospital, where doctors declared them dead upon arrival.
The Somangalam police have registered a case and are conducting an investigation.