Prosecutors in Volgograd have opened a negligent homicide investigation into the death of a 12-year-old boy who drowned in a city fountain, seemingly after being pulled into its water drainage system, the Investigative Committee said.
Police have detained the director of a municipal agency that commissioned the fountain's construction, and the head of the contracting firm that carried out the work, investigators said in a statement Monday.
The tragedy occurred Sunday in the "70 Years of Victory" park in the southern region of Volgograd.
Photographs of the fountain published by local media showed a deep pit at the bottom of the basin — a hole into which water flowed before being drained away by suction pumps.
The hole was not covered by any protective grill to prevent people from being pulled into it, Volgograd's V1.ru news portal reported, describing the arrangement as a violation of "common sense and safety requirements."
Several adults who had been lounging near the fountain rushed to save the boy, but could not overcome the suction of powerful drain pipes and pull him out, V1 reported.
