Barely three-and-a-half months after a school picnic at a resort in Nelamangala proved to be a watery grave for a nine-year-old, another case of negligence claimed the life of a 12-year-old girl — this time at WonderLa Water Amusement Park near Bidadi on Monday.
Sabarina Taj, a Class 6 student of Matha English High School in RT Nagar, drowned when she failed to hold on to the safety ropes in the wave pool.
Sabarina was part of a group of 120 students of the school who had gone to the amusement park.
Bidadi police said the tragedy struck at about 3pm when Sabarina along with a few of her classmates entered the wave pool.
The depth of the wave pool ranged from three to six feet. The police suspect that floating tubes were not provided to Sabarina and a few other children.
According to the Bidadi police, Sabarina may have lost grip of the safety rope while moving from the shallow end to the deep end. The force of the waves could have carried her to the six-feet-deep side of the pool where she was found in an unconscious state by the lifeguards present at the venue.
Sabarina was rushed to Rajarajeshwari Medical College & Hospital on Mysore Road. “At 3.30 pm, the doctors declared the girl ‘brought dead’,” said Anupam Agarwal, Ramanagara district superintendent of police.
Sabarina’s father, Mohammed Mushtaq, a driver, learnt about his daughter’s death only on reaching the hospital at about 8pm.
Mushtaq and his relative, Siraj, were telephoned by the school principal, Chalvi, at about 7pm, informing them that the girl was injured and was admitted to the hospital.
Bidadi police have registered a case of negligence against WonderLa as well as Matha English High School.
Agarwal told DNA that they were unable to conduct a thorough spot inspection as they were informed late. “It will be conducted tomorrow,” he said.
Neither WonderLa officials nor the school management members were available for comments.
