A nine-year-old Non-Resident Indian girl died minutes after she accidentally fell into a ‘waves’ swimming pool at a theme park near Tambaram on Thursday.
The deceased girl, Afreen, was the daughter of Anwar Siddiq, a native of Ramanathapuram district currently living in Qatar. The family had come down to Chennai a few days ago and was staying at a relative’s house in Medavakkam.
On Thursday, six members of the family, along with the girl, had gone to the Kishkinta Theme Park at Varadarajapuram. Police said Afreen was standing close to the pool when she accidentally fell into the water. The family members, who were standing nearby, rescued her out of the water.
“She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead. We have registered a case of suspicious death. During investigation, if we find lack of adequate safety mechanisms as the reason for death, we will take legal action accordingly,” said a police official.
However, the theme park management claimed that the girl did not drown. “The water was hardly half-foot-deep and the girl was inside the water only for a couple of seconds. We have the video recording of the entire incident to prove our claims,” said Kannan, operations manager of the theme park.
He said the family members themselves had said that the girl was suffering from respiratory illness for long. Somangalam police are investigating.
Woman Kills Self
A 24-year-old woman, Arul Mozhi, who was living with her husband Madan at Tsunami Colony at Thalankuppam, doused herself with kerosene and struck the match in a fit of rage as she was upset with her husband’s addiction to alcohol.
When Madan tried to douse the fire, he too suffered burns. The neighbours rushed both of them to the KMCH where Arul Mozhi succumbed.