A Child Drowns in Water Reservoir Pit in Deshtyari County

The absence of standard protective barriers led to the drowning death of a 7-year-old child from Deshtyari County in a “hotag” (water storage pit). Since the beginning of the current year, 8 citizens in the Balochestan region have lost their lives due to drowning in hotags. Every year, many children drown in hotaks or become victims of crocodile attacks.

According to Hrana news agency, citing Tasnim, the head of the Islamic Council of “Sandbahram” village in Deshtyari said: A seven-year-old child fell into the water of the hotag pit in Sandbahram village, a suburb of Deshtyari County, while playing in its vicinity, and died due to suffocation.

Sajed Johar added: This first-grade student had gone with other village children to the hotag for playing and swimming when he suddenly fell into the water. Due to the fall into the hotag and lack of familiarity with swimming techniques in hotag water, he drowned.

According to this report, this is the eighth citizen who has died this year in the Balochestan region, located in the south of Sistan and Balochestan Province, as a result of drowning in hotags.

For years, due to the lack of piped water supply and inadequate management of minimal rainfall in Sistan and Balochestan Province, people have been forced to dig pits called hotaks to collect rainwater; some of these hotaks have also naturally become sites for water accumulation. The surroundings of these pits have not been fenced or equipped with barriers, and for this reason, children either drown while collecting water inside these hotaks or fall victim to crocodiles.

Source: Hrana