Mumbai: Two school-going boys drowned in a water tank at Aarey Colony on Friday. Police said the duo, Naqib Khan, 14, and Zayed Patel, 15, had left their tuition class midway and ventured to Aarey Colony with a friend for a swim. The friend fled after the incident.Khan and Patel studied in class 9 and class 10, respectively, at the Jogeshwari Gunfa English Medium Secondary School. They had not been to school on Friday. Around 11.55 am, the Aarey police received a phone call from an unknown person about a drowning at the water tank near Modern Bakery junction.According to the fire brigade, they received a call about the incident at 12.04 p.m. “When we reached the spot, members of the public, present at the scene, told us that two boys had fallen into an underground water tank that was 10 to 12 feet deep. The boys were removed from the tank using bamboo poles and ropes and were later taken by ambulance to the Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari. Doctors declared them dead before admission to the hospital,” said a fire brigade official.“The boys were not carrying any identification on them. We found their school bags near the water tank. Their books had their names written on them. We then approached schools in the vicinity and found out where they studied,” said a police officer.Both boys came from economically disadvantaged families. They were residents of Jhula maidan in Jogeshwari. “When we called up their parents to inform them about the drownings, the mother of one of the boys said he was at his tuition classes,” said a police officer.Police said the tank, where the incident occurred, was used for storing water for cleaning cattle in Aarey Colony. The tank was covered with a net which was broken in a few places. Swimming was prohibited in the tank but youngsters often ventured there for a dip. Despite the Aarey administration staff shooing away visitors to the tank, they would continue to venture there.
