19-year-old Mohammad Abdul Rizwan who had been learning to swim for the last three months died in a swimming pool in Hyderabad on Monday evening.
Rizwan, who worked in a grocery store, had been learning to swim for three months at the Yunus Swimming Pool in Madina Bazar,in the Old City, and had become a competent swimmer. However, his and his friends’ penchant for games and stunts may have cost him his life.
According to the police, Rizwan went to the swimming pool with his friends Shahrukh, Akram Sultan and Sahroz at around 3.30 pm on Monday. Before entering the pool, the group of friends made a bet to see which of them could spend the most amount of time under the water.
At around 4pm, Rizwan and his friends dove into the pool together. About 20 minutes later, when the other friends came out of the pool, they realized that Rizwan had not emerged from the water in all that time.
Panicked, the three friends alerted the authorities of the swimming pool, who found Rizwan in a unconsious state in the pool and alerted Rain Bazar police station.
Police rushed to the spot and shifted Rizwan to Osmania hospital, where he was declared dead.
Inspector G Ramesh of the Rain Bazar police station told The News Minute, "Rizwan was coming to this swimming pool for the past three months. From the CCTV footage we observed that he was a good swimmer, but when he jumped into the water he may have suffered some injury or problem that caused his death. The reasons for his death are not yet clear. They will only be cleared up after the post-mortem report is available."
He added, "We are enquiring into the matter and if it is proved that the incident happened because of the negligence of the pool authorities, we will take action against them".
A case has been registered under section 304 of the IPC (Negligence).
This drowning is only the latest in a series of deaths of young men indulging in stunts, fights or games of various kinds.
In April 2016, 19-year-old boy Mohammad Jalaluddin was killed when he was attempting some stunts with fire. He was apparently practicing to participate in the television programme India's Got Talent.
Earlier in the year, a 16-year-old boy, Manjith, was killed when he fell off some rocks while trying to take a selfie in a restricted zone in the Hyderabad zoo.
In May 2015 17-year-old Nabeel Mohamad was killed in a “friendly” street fight in Mirchowk in Hyderabad. Eight others were detained in connection with Nabeel’s death.