18-month-old boy drowns in sump

His mother forgot to replace the lid of the sump

An 18-month-old boy drowned when he slipped and fell into a sump at his house in Pozhichalur near Pallavaram on Sunday evening.

The boy was playing and his mother had gone upstairs to dry clothes when the accident happened.

Shankar Nagar police sources said the child’s mother Mahadevi, a homemaker, was washing clothes on the portico of her house in Vinayaga Nagar. She was keeping a watchful eye on her son Mohanraj, who was playing nearby. She opened the sump, also located on the portico, to draw a bucket of water.

She forgot to put the lid of the sump back in its place and continued washing the clothes. Mahadevi took the clothes to the terrace for drying and when she came back, was unable to find Mohanraj.

She called for help and frantically searched for her son with her neighbours. Half-an-hour later, they noticed Mohanraj’s body floating in the sump.

They rushed him to Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital, Chromepet, where he was pronounced dead. Mahadevi’s husband, Subramani, a mason, was not at home on Sunday evening.

The couple was married three years ago and Mohanraj was their only child.