THANE: Four Class 10 students drowned in the Ulhas River on Friday afternoon, when they went to wash off Holi colors. It appeared the teenagers, three of whom dived in to save a fourth who was drowning, misjudged the depth of the water.
Aryan Medar, 15, Omsingh Tomar, 15, Siddharth Singh, 16, and Aryan Singh, 16, were residents of Poddar Housing Complex near Chamtoli in Badlapur. They were in the midst of their Class 10 board exams and were cooling off during the Holi festivities before they resumed their prep for the exams.
Police said the four deceased were part of a group of 10 teenagers who had been celebrating Holi in their housing society. After that, they stepped out for a meal and a dip in the river. Walking along a narrow pathway beside the Baroda National Highway, eight of them decided to take a swim.
Badlapur Rural Police said that one of the boys dived in but started flailing in the water, prompting three others to jump in to save him. All four disappeared into the water, leaving the remaining four boys to rush out, shouting for help.
“We received a call from a villager and reached the spot within 10 minutes,” said Govind Patil, in charge of the Badlapur Rural Police Station. “Before the fire brigade arrived, we sought assistance from local labourers working on the highway. They were skilled swimmers and managed to retrieve one body, while the fire brigade later recovered the remaining three. There were already more than 70 police personnel deployed at every riverside due to Holi.”
Local resident Krishna Patil said the stretch of the river the boys had chosen to visit was usually deserted as there is no proper road, only a rough path, there. Just four feet away from the bank, the river bed abruptly falls away into a deep hollow. “These boys were unaware of the danger.”
The group of Class 10 students was well-liked in their housing society. Except for Aryan Medar, the three other deceased teenagers were the only children of their parents. Medar’s elder brother, Harsh, and he were the only two children of their single mother.
While their mother was inconsolable, Harsh took charge of the hospital formalities for his deceased brother. He too was in a state of deep shock but tried to hold himself together. “We had no idea when they went to the river because they were all playing inside the society,” Harsh said. “The river is about 500 metres from our complex. His board exams were ongoing, but due to the stress of exams over the past few days, we allowed him to enjoy Holi. Now, my mother is devastated, and I don’t know how to handle this situation.”
Siddharth Singh’s mother, who lives alone and works at a supermarket, was banking on her son to lead them to a better future after scoring well in his board exams. Her sister, Shobhna Singh, said, “They both dreamed of building a better life together. Around 3pm, when she didn’t see him around, she started looking for him inside the society. He had told her he would return in an hour. But then, some of his friends came running, crying, and told her about the drowning. Now, she just sits by the door, waiting for her son to come back.”
According to a doctor from the Government Hospital in Badlapur, the bodies of the four boys started arriving from 5pm. After post-mortem examinations were completed by 9pm, they were handed over to their families.