CHENNAI: In an incident that has yet again foregrounded safety issues in amusement parks, a Class VII boy student on Sunday drowned in a swimming pool in Queensland, a theme park at Palanjur near Sembarambakkam, during a picnic organised by his school. Prabhakaran (12), a student of Sri Lakshmi Higher Secondary School in Tiruvallur, was playing on a slide when he plunged into the swimming pool minutes after which he died due to suffocation. The tragic incident took place in the afternoon when 152 students of the school, accompanied by about a dozen teachers, were picnicking in the theme park. On seeing Prabhakaran struggling in the water, the teachers and theme park staff pulled him out.
He was immediately taken to a hospital nearby where the doctor said the boy had already died.
However, there were conflicting versions on what exactly led to his drowning.
Relatives of the victim got to know from his classmates that one of the boy’s legs got stuck in a net placed to separate the pool into sections, due to which he could not come out of the water. However, the police said the boy “simply ingested excessive water”. “He did not know swimming and after sliding into the swimming pool, he ingested too much water leading to suffocation,” said Alexander, inspector of Nazarathpet police station, hinting that there was no negligence by the theme park management. An official of the Queensland theme park did not respond to phone calls from Express.
The family members and relatives of Prabhakaran were not convinced with the explanation and around 150 of them staged a protest in the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital demanding action against the teachers and theme park for negligence. “We sent the child to the picnic trusting the teachers. But it seems there were not enough teachers accompanying the students to monitor them properly,” said a relative of the deceased boy.