At Least Nine Children Drown in Three Bihar Districts
Most deaths happened during festival or recreational bathing, highlighting unsafe post-monsoon water conditions that increase drowning risk.
Overview
- Police say over three days ending Sunday at least nine children and youths drowned in Siwan, Gopalganj and East Champaran, with bodies recovered in multiple incidents.
- Two 13-year-old boys, Aditya Kumar and Sagar Kumar, drowned in the Daha river in Gopalganj while bathing during the Jitiya festival, police said.
- Three girls — Anshu Kumari (14), Anisha Kumari (16) and Anjali Kumari (16) — drowned in a pond in Rampur village of Siwan when two tried to rescue a companion and the girls’ families refused post-mortems.
- In East Champaran a 12-year-old, Manita Kumari, drowned in the Tilawe River and three youths died in the Khadwa Canal after a birthday outing; post-mortems were done and some next of kin received disaster-relief cheques.
- Officials have opened routine investigations and local coverage points to unpredictable post-monsoon depths and weak supervision at communal water sites as key risks that may prompt stepped-up safety measures.