Two schoolchildren tragically drowned while swimming in a water-filled construction pit in Satpur Shivaji Nagar. The incident occurred on Monday, August 5, at approximately 6 PM near the Gurdwara in the Karbon Naka area. The large pit, created at a private construction site and subsequently filled with rainwater, attracted four to five local children. Unfortunately, Ankush Kiran Gade and Pranav Vinod Sonatake, both 15-year-old students from Class 9 at Bal Shikshan Mandir Janata Vidyalaya in Mitra Shramik Nagar, drowned when their feet became trapped in the mud.
The children went swimming after school and when Ankush and Pranav got stuck, their friends ran to inform their families. The Satpur Municipal Fire Department arrived but couldn't locate the boys. Eventually, BJP Yuva Morcha's Amol Patil and former corporator Ravindra Dhiware called lifeguard Sandeep Gumbade, who, along with others, pulled the boys from the water.
The unconscious boys were taken to a private hospital and then to the district government hospital, where they were declared dead. This incident has caused great distress in the Satpur area.
Residents, led by Amol Patil, demanded that the concerned builder be held accountable for the lack of safety measures at the construction site, which included the absence of a protective wall and security guard, and for blocking a natural drain. Patil insisted the builder should compensate the families of the deceased children.
Ranjit Nalavde, Senior Police Inspector of Satpur, confirmed that preliminary investigations revealed no security guard was present at the site. The community mourns this tragic loss and calls for stricter safety regulations to prevent such incidents in the future.