4 school students drown in pond at Umbarkheda

Aurangabad: Four school students, all in the age group of 14-17 years, drowned in a pond in Umbarkheda village on Friday afternoon. All of them, said to be close relatives, had gathered near the village-based Chil-Dara pond for Diwali vacations.
Police said the village is around 25km from Kannad.
The deceased are Krushna Charandas Rathod (17) and Rameshwar Pandit Pawar, Akash Jailal Pawar and Umesh Kailash Pawar, all three 14 years of age.
Police said Krushna was currently pursuing his HSC from Vasantrao Naik Ashram School in the neighbouring Telwadi village. The other three were students of Nagapur-based Nageshwar High School.
Villagers said all the deceased belonged to farmers' families. Akash was the only child to his parents, who are disabled people. His elder brother died after sustaining an electric shock almost a year ago.
The Chilar-Dara pond got deepened further after the silt from it was removed during the recent drought.
Police said that one of the minors did not know to swim, while the other three drowned in an attempt to save him. Considering the increased depth of the pond and fresh flow of silt due to incessant rains, elders from the village had issued an alert asking people not to go to the pond for swimming.
The incident came to light after one of the farmers, who was at a distance, spotted a drowning youth. He rushed there to find some clothes kept outside the pond, following which he cried for help attracting the attention of villagers.