Malappuram: “We were around 25 members. Except two, all of us ventured into the pool. But no one noticed Naban when he moved into the deeper area. No one realised he was drowning. It is still a haunting memory, that moment in the pool,” said Ishaque, uncle of eight-year-old Naban who drowned in a swimming pool at a resort in the Kumarakom backwater area on Wednesday evening during a family trip from Vengara in Malappuram.

A day after the tragedy, the family remains gripped by shock and disbelief. What was meant to be a simple outing filled with laughter and togetherness turned, within moments, into an unimaginable nightmare. As relatives recount the sequence of events, many are still unable to comprehend how the child went unnoticed in a pool surrounded by his own family.

The group, comprising around 25 members of a single extended family from Vettuthodu near Vengara, had arrived at a resort in Kumarakom around 1 pm on Wednesday. Among them were 11 children. Naban had come along with his father Najeem, mother Salmath, and siblings Naseem, Nahiyan and Nehra, joining what was meant to be a joyful break from routine.

After lunch and a brief rest, the family entered the swimming pool around 3 pm. The pool had separate shallow and deep sections, with children largely playing in the safer, shallow area. “All of us got into the pool, swimming, playing, and enjoying ourselves. It had been nearly an hour,” Ishaque recalled.

The moment of joy shattered abruptly. “One of us suddenly felt his leg touch something soft in the deeper end. At first, he didn’t realise what it was. Then he looked down and saw a child lying motionless at the bottom,” he said. Panic spread instantly as Naban was pulled out of the water. 

Family members, including three doctors in the group, rushed to administer CPR. “We tried everything we could. There was only a faint response,” Ishaque said, his voice still heavy with grief. 

The child was first taken to a nearby clinic about five kilometres away and then rushed to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, where doctors later confirmed his death.

According to relatives, there were no resort staff present near the pool at the time as women were also among the group swimming in the pool. “Children were playing in the shallow section meant for them. We don’t know how Naban reached the deeper area. It is painful that none of us noticed,” Ishaque said.

The tragedy has left the entire family and their hometown in mourning. Naban’s body was brought back to Vettuthodu on Thursday afternoon after a postmortem at the medical college hospital. His burial is scheduled to take place later in the evening at Puthenpalli Masjid in Vengara Town.