Fire and fury in the Middle East 5 children among 6 drown in Ludhiana village pond
LUDHIANA: Five children aged between 4 and 10, including four siblings, and a 22-year-old male rescuer drowned in a pond at Manngarh village of Koomkalan in Ludhiana district on Friday afternoon.
The victims have been identified as Sonu (4), Chhoti (6), Aarti (8), Laxmi (1o), Mohammad Kaleem (10) and Rahul Kumar (22). All victims belong to the families of labourers. Sonu, Chhoti, Aarti and Laxmi were siblings.
According to the villagers, the children were playing near the pond when one of them reportedly slipped into the pond and the rest jumped in for rescue and perished. A passerby, Rahul Kumar, entered the pond to save the children, but he, too, drowned. Later, villagers informed the police. Joint commissioner of police (JCP, Rural)
Sachin Gupta said a police team reached the spot and took divers’ help. All the six bodies were fished out after two hours, he said.
The JCP said the bodies were found on the deeper side of the pond and they were stuck on the pond bed. The bodies were sent to the civil hospital for postmortem. Kokila, the mother of four siblings, passed out seeing the bodies of her children. The victims’ father, Sanjay Kumar, a factory worker, said they used to deter the children from going near the pond.
Farzana, the mother of Mohammad Kaleem, said her son left the house in new clothes and took ₹10 from her as Eidi for buying chips. He had promised to come back in a few minutes, said the mother.
Meanwhile, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh announced an ex gratia of ₹50,000 each to the families of the six victims.
THE VICTIMS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AS SONU (4), CHHOTI (6), AARTI (8), LAXMI (1O), WHO WERE SIBLINGS, MOHAMMAD KALEEM (10), AND RAHUL KUMAR (22) WHO JUMPED IN FOR KIDS’ RESCUE