Four children drowned in a lake near Chakan area in Khed taluka of Pune district on Saturday afternoon, police said.
The deceased were identified as Omkar Babasaheb Hange (13) of Beed district, Shlok Jagdish Mankar (13) of Amravati district, Prasad Shankar Deshmukh (13) of Nanded district and Naitik Gopal More (13) of Akola district. The four children were residing with their families in rented homes at Medankarwadi in Chakan area.
Police said the deceased boys belonged to families of migrant workers who shifted to Chakan for jobs. They left their homes around 11 am and went to the Pazar lake in Kadachiwadi village for swimming.
When the boys did not return home, their family members began searching for them in the afternoon. The family members found clothes and other belongings of the children near the lake. After receiving information, a team of Pimpri Chinchwad police reached the spot and launched a search and rescue operation for the missing children.
With the help of local residents, police recovered the bodies of the four children from the lake, around 3 pm. They were pronounced dead at the rural hospital in Chakan and the bodies were handed over to the family member after postmortem.
An accidental death report was lodged at the Chakan police station and a probe was initiated to confirm the cause behind the incident.
