14-year-old drowns in flooded cellar of under-construction building in Bengaluru

A 14-year-old boy drowned in Bengaluru after entering the flooded cellar of an under-construction building on Tuesday. The building was located in HBR Layout's 2nd stage near the BDA Complex. The boy, identified as Chandrasekar (Chandru), was a resident of KG Halli in the city. On Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 pm, he went into the waterlogged basement of an under-construction building. Investigating police officials from the KG Halli Police Station said that Chandru volunteered to step into the water despite not knowing how to swim, Indian Express reported. 

The water had collected in the cellar due to the heavy rains recently in Bengaluru. After Chandru struggled in the water, he waved his hands asking for help. One of his friends Vimal, 13, jumped into the water to try and rescue Chandru. Their other friends alerted passers-by who ran to the site. Police said that those who rushed included Adam Pasha, a food delivery worker, who tried to help the boys. He tied a rope to his waist and got down in knee deep water. He managed to rescue Vimal but they could not find Chandru, The Hindu reported.

KG Halli police said that Chandru's body was recovered later on Tuesday evening.  Police officials have taken up a case of death due to negligence against the building owner Firoz. The owner of the building stated that he had put hollow blocks to prevent people from going in. 

Bengaluru has recorded an unusually high amount of rainfall this month. The India Meteorological Department has sounded a yellow warning for Bengaluru Urban district for the next four days as well. As per figures maintained by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, the state received 46% excess rainfall in October (figures taken till October 18). This excess rainfall is particularly high in Bengaluru which recorded 125% more than the normal rainfall recorded in October