It was a pain beyond human endurance. In matter of minutes two happy Indian families saw their lives shattered following the tragic drowning of their small and innocent children in a housing complex in Dammam Industrial City I Monday evening. Three children of Indian origin, two from International Indian School Dammam and another a recent arrival from India who was seeking enrollment in a school, drowned in the non-operational swimming pool in the compound. According to several accounts of the incident narrated by the residents of the complex, the three deceased Soufan Navas Basheer, aged four years and four months and student of LKG at IISD; his elder brother Shams, six years and six months and student of class I; and their friend Parth, 7 years and yet to be admitted in a school, were playing with other children of the compound. Soufan and Shams were the only children of Navas and Sowmya Basheer, who hailed from the southern Indian state of Kerala. Parth was the son of Ravi, who had recently arrived in Saudi Arabia from Gujarat and was the only son of his parents. According to children playing in the vicinity one of the three jumped the gate of the pool area, which was locked. The two followed suit. While playing near the pool, Parth slipped and fell inside the pool the two brothers reflexively jumped into the pool to rescue him. The pool was usually kept dry and the compound management had locked the gates for safety reasons. But last week's rains filled the pool and the compound management was in the process of draining the pool out. When the children, playing outside the gate, saw the three of them struggling in water they shouted for help and some rushed to get their elders. When people rushed to the pool, they saw the three children breathless floating in the pool. They were rushed to the hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival. Both the parents have expressed their desire to carry the bodies of their children to their respective home towns. The International Indian School will be closed on Thursday as mark of respect. Dammam and Al-Khobar was gripped in shock and disbelief over the tragedy. Since morning people from all walks of life visited Navas and Ravi's families to pay their condolences. The distraught parents are still in shock. The bodies are lying in morgue.
