During the ‘Jivitputrika’ festival on Wednesday, eight minors, including seven girls, drowned while bathing in ponds in two different villages in the Aurangabad district of Bihar, according to officials.
In Kushaha village in Madanpur block and Itahat village in Barun block, there were two distinct ponds where four individuals each drowned.
Pankaj Kumar (8), Sonali Kumari (13), Nilam Kumari (12), Rakhi Kumari (12), Anku Kumari (15), Nisha Kumari (12), Chulbul Kumari (13), Lazo Kumari (15), and Rashi Kumari (18) have been identified as the victims.
District Magistrate Srikant Shastri of Bihar told PTI, “The incidents took place when the victims along with their family members went to the ponds to take a holy bath on the occasion of ‘Jivitputrika’ festival, during which women fast for the well-being of their children.” “Officials concerned immediately reached the spots and retrieved them from the ponds and took them to the nearest hospitals, where doctors declared them dead,” according to him.
Police and district administration representatives are looking into the situation more.
Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, expressed his condolences for the loss and promised to compensate the surviving family members of the deceased with ₹ 4 lakh apiece.