Uttar Pradesh: 9-year-old falls in Gomti while playing, search on

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 5 : A nine-year-old boy fell into the Gomti river from the broken side railing at the riverfront while playing during an event at Lakshman Mela Maidan in Lucknow's Hazratganj on Tuesday evening, the police said.

After getting the information, a team of Hazratganj police reached the spot and tried to find the child by calling a local diver, but the child was not found.

"The body of the victim Raj Sonkar could not be recovered from the river till late in the evening," the police said.

"The railing on the banks of the Gomti River was broken in the middle, due to which the child fell into the river while playing. An attempt was made to pull the child out with a rope, but the child could not hold the rope and drowned in the river," the child's mother Parvati Sonkar said.

"Police did not call any rescue team and after several hours the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team arrived at the spot," the child's mother alleged.

Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Himanshu Gupta reached the spot and assured the family members that a search operation would be conducted again on Wednesday morning to find the child.

"Search operation will be again conducted again on Wednesday," he added.