Family, friends remember Naperville girl who drowned in pond

Hundreds of family members and friends laid 9-year-old Maheen Ahmad to rest Friday, just one day after the Naperville girl drowned in a neighborhood pond.

A brief funeral service was held Friday, following afternoon prayers, in the basement of Villa Park's Islamic Foundation.

Members of the Islamic faith believe burials should be completed on the same day as a person's death whenever possible. If same-day burial is not possible, it may take place the next day.

Hundreds of mourners, many weeping, filled the facility to comfort Maheen's family before the little girl's burial in Elmhurst's Arlington Cemetery later in the afternoon.

"(Maheen) was always happy, always smiling," her father, Syed Ahmad, said through tears. "We were blessed to have her with us."

He said his daughter was playing with her 12- and 7-year-old cousins around 1 p.m. Thursday when she fell through the thin ice covering a pond just east of Aviara Court near Saddlebrook Drive.

He said Maheen was tapping the ice with her foot, as if to test it, when she fell in.

"She was very attached to her cousins," he said.

The girl's 12-year-old cousing, Fazil, also fell through the ice trying to save the girl but was rescued by a neighbor who lives near the pond.

Ahmad said he had not yet seen the pond, nor did he know how the children, who were visiting relatives in the subdivision, got to it.

Maheen's uncle, Shaheed Farooqui, said the cousin, Fazil, was treated and released early Friday from Naperville's Edward Hospital.

"He tried to save my daughter but he said she had gone too far away," Ahmad said. "He's like an angel to the family. He is a very nice man."

Reuben Hash, of Indian Head Park, was visiting relatives whose house backs up to the pond Thursday. Hash said he looked out the window when he heard voices outside.

"It was just the most devastating thing to see. She was there playing one second and falling under the next," Hash said. "I'm not a swimmer so I called 911 and yelled for my sister to get blankets to take out there while we waited for help."

Randy Nornes, who lives two houses down, said he heard a commotion outside but did not realize the children had fallen in until they were brought out. He said people in the area know the pond is not always safe.

"I've lived here eight years and I've only seen one child ever out on that ice several years ago," he said. "I yelled out to him to get off, that it wasn't safe, and he did. But that's the only time I've ever seen that."

Maheen was a fourth-grader at Indian Prairie Unit District 204's White Eagle Elementary School. District spokeswoman Janet Buglio said the school's crisis team will be in place when students return on Monday to "help any students who will need support in dealing with the loss of their classmate."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=254263">9-year-old girl drowns in Naperville pond <span class="date">[11/27/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>