Girl, 4, drowns in playschool water tank in Madurai

MADURAI: A four-year-old girl attending a summer camp fell into a drinking water tank, which was left open behind a playschool, and drowned in K K Nagar, Madurai, on Tuesday morning.

Police arrested the school’s trustee and an employee for negligence, and the premises have been sealed.

Aaruthraa, daughter of N Amudhan and A Siva Anandi of Uthangudi, was attending the summer camp at Sri Kindergarten, run by trustee Divya Rajesh. Police said that around 10.30 am, as the children were playing, Aaruthraa wandered to the rear side of the building and fell into a 12-foot-deep water tank that was open.

Teachers noticed her absence after almost half an hour. After a search, they found her lying motionless in the water. As they raised an alarm, three medical representatives passing by helped pulled her out, but she was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

Following the incident, the Anna Nagar police and revenue officials led by tahsildar M Shalini inspected the school. Preliminary findings pointed to gross negligence, as the tank was left unprotected and unattended. Around 50 children are studying in the playschool. Police arrested Divya Rajesh and staff member Vairamani and booked them under BNS sections for causing death by negligence. Four teachers, Menaka, Aishwarya, Jayapriya, Satya Bhavani, and two helpers, Chitra and Saritha, were also detained for inquiry. Deputy commissioner S Anitha and district education officer (DEO) A Renuka said legal proceedings are underway.

“We had so many dreams for our daughter. We never imagined such a tragedy could happen in school,” said Amudhan.

“Even after the death of my daughter, the school management didn’t give any proper reply. What were they doing for nearly half an hour while she was drowning,” he asked.

Later in the evening, collector Sangeetha announced a ban on all summer camps run by schools or playschools in the district. The DEO said inspections will be conducted at 120 nursery schools to assess safety standards.