18-year-old drowns in water-logged pit while trying to save two children

nNEW DELHI: An 18-year-old man drowned in a pit filled with rainwater in southeast Delhi’s Jasola on Wednesday. Police said the pit was dug up for an ongoing construction work in the area. Police are yet to verify which agency was involved.

Quoting eyewitnesses, a police officer said the man drowned while trying to save two children who were playing in rainwater near the pit. Police identified the dead teenager as Mohammad Aamir,18, a resident of Khadda colony near Jasola Vihar. His father is a tailor.

According to the police, around 4.30pm Wednesday they received a call reporting that a man has drowned in a pit dug up in Jasola.

A police team reached the spot and pulled out the body with the help of fire personnel and local residents. The body was sent for a post-mortem examination and was later handed over to Aamir’s family, police said.

“During preliminary probe, witnesses said the streets in Jasola were waterlogged after the rain on Wednesday. Two boys who were accompanying Aamir had fallen into the pit. Aamir fell into the pit while trying to rescue the two kids. Though he safely pulled the two children out, he drowned,” said the officer.

Deputy commissioner of police (south east) RP Meena said police have registered a case under section 304A (causing death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. Meena said police are probing whose negligence led to the death.

This is the third rain-related death in Delhi in the past one week.

On July 19, a 56-year-old man had drowned in the waterlogged Minto Road underpass near Connaught Place. The same day, a 28-year-old man died after falling in a waterlogged street in Amar Colony.