Five members of a family, including three children, drowned in a water-filled quarry at Dombivali East in Thane district where they had gone to wash clothes on Saturday.
The victims have been identified as Meera Gaikwad (55), her daughter-in-law Apeksha Gaikwad (30), and her grandchildren Mayuresh Gaikwad (14), Moksha Gaikwad (13) and Siddhesh Gaikwad (14). The five deceased are reportedly residents of Desle Pada.
The police said the incident took place around 4 pm at Sandap village. “While the daughter-in-law and the grandmother were washing clothes, one of the children slipped and fell into the water… To save the child, the others also jumped into the water. All of them drowned,” said an officer.
Those who witnessed the incident informed the police and the fire brigade. While all five members of the family were fished out by the fire brigade team, they were declared brought dead by the doctors at the hospital.
According to local residents, water scarcity in the area leads many people to wash clothes at the quarry.
“There is a water scarcity in the village and nearby areas like Desle Pada and Bhopar… people come to the quarry to wash their clothes,” said a resident.
According to the police, the residents have said that there was no water supply in the area on Saturday.
Some local residents also claimed that Meera’s husband is the Police Patil of Desle Pada.
Officers from Manpada police, which sent the bodies to a government hospital for postmortem, said they are in the process of registering an Accidental Death Report in the matter.
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