Two 14-year-old boys who had gone to feed fish in a pond off DL Khan Road in Alipore in southwest Kolkata drowned on Monday afternoon.
Police said one of them slipped into the pond and the other jumped after him in a futile attempt to save his friend.
The boys — Raj Modak and Ramendra Chowdhury — could not swim, their families have apparently told police.
Their bodies were fished out by personnel of the fire department and the disaster management team.
Raj, from Bhowanipore, and Ramendra, a resident of Kalighat, were taken to SSKM Hospital, where they were declared dead.
An officer of Alipore police station said residents of Vidyasagar Colony, where the boys drowned, told the cops that Raj and Ramendra were often seen near the pond feeding biscuits and puffed rice to fish.
“We found a pair of slippers, masks and a spinning top beside the pond. The last step of the flight of stairs leading to the water is inclined and very slippery. It appears one of them went too close to the water and slipped,” said the officer.
The other one jumped into the water to help his friend and drowned.
Residents of the locality said they usually stayed away from the staircase as the steps were covered with moss and slippery.