Child drowns in 4 ft water

“There were 12-13 children; it was a pool for small children. Most of them were at the shallow end,which was less than a foot deep. When all the other children came out,my wife realised Gatha was not there,” said Mukund Dhus,who works with the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).

Even the deep end was hardly four feet but the turbid water reduced visibility and it took 30 minutes to fish Gatha out. “The pool was not maintained properly. In a four-foot pool,we should have been able to see everything from outside,” Dhus said.

The manager of the resort,Whispering Woods,was contacted,but he refused to comment.

The Lonavala police have registered a case of accidental death under Section 174 of the CrPC. “We are checking the resort’s contract,where the lifeguard was and whether safety measures were in place,” said inspector Sudam Dharekar.

Gatha,who would have turned five on May 31,died on Friday,the same day when 14-year-old Mukul Jamkhedkar had drowned in a pool in Pune city.

Dhus said: “Every summer we hear of children dying. These resorts put up boards that say ‘Swim at your own risk’ but does their responsibility end there? There are lifeguards,but what if they are sitting in office? No other parent should go through this.”

Gatha was in senior KG at South Indian Education Society (SIES) in Mumbai. The family is at present at Bibewadi in Pune.

A lively child,Gatha loved to dance; on May 17,she would have performed on stage with her sister.

“She was my life,she went with me everywhere. She loved to put on make-up and wanted me,not her mother,to braid her hair,” Dhus said.