Kartick Shaw and (below) Lila Devi. (Gopal Senapati)

A six-year-old boy is feared drowned and his mother and grandmother are fighting for their lives after they were swept away by high tide while offering tarpan in the Hooghly, near a Howrah ghat, on Mahalaya.

The child along with his family members was paying homage to his grandfather Ramananda Shaw, who died a week ago.

Seven persons among the many taking a dip at Ghusuri ghat in the morning were swept away by the current. Bystanders were able to rescue everyone except Kartick Shaw.

Thirteen members of 50-year-old Howrah trader Jitendar Shaw’s family had gone to the ghat around 10am for the ritual. Jitendar’s wife Lila Devi, 45, mother Lakshmi Devi, 65, daughters Khusbu, 15, and Pinky, 14, and son Kartick, 6, entered the water as others stood on the steps of the ghat.

“We saw the two women being carried away by the tide. One of the women was trying to hold on to a boy while struggling to get out of water. By the time we dived in and managed to reach the woman, she had become unconscious and the boy was missing. We could not find him anywhere,” said Ashok Kumar Jha, a local youth who rescued some of those swept away.

Divers of Calcutta Port Trust could not trace the boy till late on Friday.

The women were admitted to TL Jaiswal Hospital in Howrah in a serious condition.

Kartick’s uncle Arvind said: “My brother is shattered after losing his only son. I am praying for my mother and sister-in-law.”