Mohammad Shahbaz

A 17-year-old boy drowned in the College Square water body while taking swimming lessons on Sunday morning, police said.

Mohammad Shahbaz, who joined the Calcutta University Institute swimming club about a month back, apparently jumped into a deep pool instead of a shallower one meant for novices, an officer of Amherst Street police station said.

“The teenager was supposed to swim in the barricaded portion of the pool that is meant for beginners.... Two trainers jumped after him but failed to rescue Shahbaz,” said Pranab Saha, a member of the executive committee of the swimming club, which is not linked to Calcutta University.

Six swimming clubs function from College Square. The Calcutta Municipal Corporation asked all the pools to suspend swimming till further orders.

Saha said the club had a lifeguard but he was on leave and there was none to cover for him. “There was no lifeguard on Sunday,” said Saha.

A lifeguard is an expert swimmer who is trained in rescuing drowning people.

“There were hardly five trainees in the shallow pool and two trainers when the accident happened around 7.30am. Shahbaz scaled the low wall separating the shallow pool from the deeper one and jumped over to the other side suddenly,” Saha said.

The pool for novices is about 3ft deep, while the one for senior swimmers is 12ft deep, he said.

“The boy jumped into the deeper pool all of a sudden, before the two trainers could realise what was happening. The trainers, who have been with us for over five years, immediately jumped into the deeper pool but it was too late,” Saha said.

Sources said lifeguards from other swimming clubs at College Square launched a rescue mission but in vain.

An official of Bowbazar Byayam Samiti, one of the clubs at College Square, said: “I have heard that the beginners were asked to dive into the shallow pool but this boy (Shahbaz), instead, dived into the other pool,” he said.

A 67-year-old swimming instructor had drowned at College Square in 2017, prompting the civic authorities to issue an guideline urging all swimming clubs to have a life-saver during training sessions.

Shahbaz, a Class IX student at Abul Hasan High School on Colootala Street, had been staying at the hostel of Calcutta Muslim Orphanage on Syed Salley Street, near CR Avenue-MG Road crossing.

An official of the central Calcutta school, run by the orphanage, said Shahbaz was sociable and was keen on all kinds of sports and extra-curricular activities. “He was a very bright chap,” he said.

Shahbaz’s elder brother Mohammad Ershad said he and his mother had tried to prevent Shahbaz from joining the swimming club.

“We were not in favour of his taking swimming lessons but he insisted on joining the club. Finally, I wrote a permission letter that my mother signed,” said Ershad.

The permission letter was needed because the orphanage authorities do not allow any boarder of the hostel to engage in any activity in which the orphanage is not involved without the family’s permission.

Ershad, a commerce graduate who works as an accountant, said Shahbaz would at times land up at his office on Park Street with requests to persuade their mother into granting his wishes.

Ershad doubts that the club was vigilant enough. “How could he drown if the trainers were vigilant and kept an eye on the trainees?” he asked.

An officer of Amherst Street police station said they were trying to find out whether any negligence of the club led to the death. “We will speak to everyone concerned,” said the officer.

A case of unnatural death has been registered. “A post-mortem has been conducted.... Till late tonight, no one from the family lodged any complaint,” the officer said.

In 2017, Kajal Dutta, a retired customs official who trained swimmers for competition, died after he was possibly trapped in the bamboo scaffolding under an unauthorised extension of a starting block in one of the pools at College Square.

Colleagues had said the 67-year-old had dived to look for prawns.