TURA: Preparations for the celebration of Easter Sunday in Garo Hills were dampened following news of drowning of a six-year-old boy in a pond at the Ganol Eco Park compound in Goeragre, 12 KMS from Tura on Saturday afternoon.
The young boy whose father is some police personnel in the 2nd MLP Battalion headquarters in Goeragre, had gone to Eco Park along with a group of friends on Saturday afternoon.
The park is adjacent to the battalion headquarters separated only by Ganol river.
The boys reportedly took advantage of the broken fences along the boundary to enter the park without buying tickets. According to the park management which sells entry tickets to visitors, it is mandatory to use of life jacket for a boat ride in Eco Park.
The boys were said to have boarded a boat anchored on the shore only to find it unstable to use.
According to accounts narrated by the boys, they decided to jump into the muddy waters of the lake to return to dryland and seeing them do so the 6-year-old who was with them also did so but he never surfaced.
The alarm was raised at around 3 O’clock in the afternoon with police, fire and emergency rescue teams rushing in from nearby Rongram.
A team of divers from the police force stationed in Tura was pressed into service and after close to an hour of extensive underwater search located the lifeless body of Tedious D Sangma.
The news of the drowning of the child shocked Tura and its citizens. The tragedy occurred barely two days after West Garo Hills district administration had issued an advisory cautioning people to be careful while getting into the water without proper adult supervision.
The deputy commissioner had urged parents and teachers to alert the young minds about the dangers of unsupervised swimming in the Ganol river which is known for strong currents.
The thunderstorms which lashed the region for the last two days has further raised the water level of rivers in Garo Hills.
“In consultation with District Administration and District Disaster management team an enquiry is instituted into the tragic death of the child done and necessary preventive measures have been put in place,” said district police chief MGR Kumar.