Overview
- A group of about 10–12 boys went to the banks of a pond in the Cinnamara tea estate to celebrate a birthday on Saturday and three of them drowned after entering the water.
- The victims were identified by police as Akshat Kumar Roy, Sushanta Patel and Rehan, all students at a local private school with Rehan in class 9 and the other two in class 11.
- State Disaster Response Force teams recovered the three bodies on the same day and the bodies were sent for medical examination, police said.
- Police have described the deaths as suspected to have occurred while the boys entered the pond to bathe and they say formal investigations into the exact circumstances are ongoing.
- Local residents and the school community are grieving and raising safety concerns about young people visiting remote streams and ponds near tea estates, which officials may need to address.