8-year-old drowns in VSC water park; MLA, corporator demand closure of facility

Tragic drowning incident at Viswanadh Sports Club prompts outrage and calls for accountability from local officials.

An eight-year-old boy accidentally drowned at the water park in the Viswanadh Sports Club (VSC) at Akkayyapalem, under the IV Town Police Station limits, on Monday.

The incident came to light after the police registered a case on Tuesday. The victim was identified as Vasupalli Rishith Sai Shankar (8) from Murali Nagar, a Class II student.

As per the police, the boy, along with his two cousins, was playing in the pool when he accidentally drowned. The staff rushed him to the hospital, but the doctors declared him ‘brought dead’. The body was then sent to King George Hospital (KGH) for postmortem.

Visakhapatnam North MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju of the BJP has lashed out at VSC management, alleging that it failed to take safety measures at the adventure sports centre. “What were the security personnel doing? Have they gone blind while the kid was drowning?” Mr. Raju lamented.

The MLA on Tuesday consoled the boy’s parents who they were waiting to collect the body at KGH.

Mr. Raju alleged that VSC was responsible for the boy’s death and called it a “murder due to negligence”. He has also alleged that it was not the first time that he heard about children getting injured at VSC.

“Last year, my granddaughter went go-karting in the club. When she fell off during the ride, she was bedridden for about 45 days. There was no safety belt, and the helmet had also fallen off. There were several incidents of children injuring their limbs and falling unconscious,” he said.