Surat: Two children drowned after accidentally falling into a water-filled lift pit at an under-construction commercial building in Bhestan on Friday evening.The victims, a three-year-old boy and a two-year-old daughter of a Rajasthani migrant worker family, have died in the incident. The couple has three children; their eldest daughter stays back in their native place, while the two younger children lived with them at the construction site where the parents work as daily wagers.According to a preliminary investigation by police, the mother was preparing dinner while the father had stepped out to buy vegetables. The children, who were playing nearby, reportedly wandered towards the lift shaft dug for the upcoming building. The pit, around six feet deep, had accumulated water. Both children slipped and fell into the shaft and drowned before help could reach them.Later, the parents realised that the children drowned in the pit, and they pulled them out. By then, the children had already died.Relatives alleged gross negligence at the site, saying the open shaft had neither a protective cover nor barricading. They claimed that had the pit been properly covered or cordoned off, the tragedy could have been averted.The grieving family initially refused to accept the bodies, demanding adequate compensation and accountability from those responsible for the site. After counselling and intervention by police, the family accepted the bodies on Saturday, following which the last rites were performed.
