Two boys drown in canal in Jaitpur

New Delhi: Playing cricket near a canal turned fatal for two boys, who drowned in south east Delhi's Jaitpur area on Wednesday.

According to police, around 11 am, an eyewitness informed police about a child drowning in the Agra Canal near Lohia Pul.

A police team and other agencies reached the spot and conducted a search for over an hour, and at around 1 pm rescuers took out the victims and rushed them to the hospital. where they were declared brought dead.

Vikas Kumar, the eyewitness, said that when he saw people gathered around the canal, he stopped his vehicle and found out that a child was drowning, after which he made a PCR call.

"I saw a hand coming up and going inside the water and people were just watching. Wasting no time, I made a call," said Kumar.

He added that the children could have been saved had there been a rope available at the spot.

The children, aged 12 and 14 years, lived with their families in Badarpur area.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Chinmoy Biswal said that immediately after the call was received, the police team had reached the spot.

Cops said that they learnt that after the ball they were playing with went into the water, the 12-year-old boy entered the canal to retrieve the ball.

However, as the canal was several feet deep, and the boy immediately began to drown.

Seeing this, the other boy went for his help and slipped inside the canal and drowned as well.