Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, May 1: Two youngsters met a tragic death in a swimming pool at Kanachur Public School, Deralakatte here on Thursday May 1.
The deceased have been identified as Neeraj (15), son of Jayaram, a resident of Kulshekar, and Suraj (23), son of Bhaskar.
Jayaram is a driver with city-based School Book Company while Bhaskar is a police constable in the Mangalore city Intelligence wing.
It is said that the institute gets its books from School Book Company, and books had delivered two days ago. On Thursday, Neeraj and Suraj along with Jayaram had been to Kanachur Public School to arrange the books and order and prepare school kits for the coming academic year. There were about nine people in all, and they worked the entire day.
Sources said that at the end of the day when it started raining, Neeraj and Suraj went off to the swimming pool without anyone's notice. A while later, the others went in search of them and found their footwear near the pool.
The swimming pool is said to be about 18 ft deep and the boys were spotted at the bottom. One person from Thokkottu tried to rescue them, but as there was chemical added to the water, he was unable to swim towards them and was forced to come out of the water. The floor too was slippery, it is said.
The bodies were recovered by the locals after some effort and taken to a hospital in Deralakatte.
Sources said that the swimming pool was out of bounds and even cordoned off to prevent anyone from entering, but the boys somehow managed to slip in. Hence, there was no one around to stop or rescue them on time.
Suraj used to work at School Book Company every summer during vacations since his SSLC. Two years ago, he completed his degree course from St Aloysius College and after working briefly at a hotel, he joined School Book Company full time. He leaves behind his parents and a brother.
Neeraj was studying in 9th standard in a school at Vamanjoor. As he was on vacations, he was helping his father in his work, it is said.
Ullal police arrived at the spot and investigated. A case has been registered in Ullal police station.