Chhath Puja in Jharkhand turns tragic as multiple drownings involving kids reported in ponds, Son River
Image of people taking a holy dip in the Ganga River during the 'Chhath Puja' celebrations in Patna used for representation | PTI
Two identical heartbreaking incidents were reported from Simdega and Hazaribagh districts of Jharkhand amidst Chhath Puja festivities, where five young girls drowned in ponds on Sunday evening while bathing. In a third incident in Palamu district's Pokhrahai village, three youths drowned in the Son River. They were part of a bigger group to bathe, and the three victims got swept away. Sunday was the second day of the Chhath festivities.
It was the tragedy from Simdega that was reported first by local media. The children were identified by local media as Khushbu Kumari (6), Pramika Kumari (5), and Seema Kumari (7). The three friends visited the pond while their elders were away. They only noticed the kids were missing many hours later, and a search party found a dead body floating in the pond late in the evening, reports said. All three of them were soon found from the pond and rushed to a community health centre. However, it was too late by then.
The police sent the bodies to the Simdega Sadar Hospital on Monday for post-mortem, Amar Ujala said in a report.
In Hazaribagh, tragedy struck Bela village when two girls were reportedly making preparations for Chhath Puja. They slipped and fell to the depths of the water body. Despite the presence of elders in the vicinity, they couldn't be dragged out in time and had lost their lives by the time they were rushed to the nearby community health centre.
The incident from Palamu district was reported under the Hussainabad police station limits. The deceased were identified as Ankush Paswan (22), Adarsh Chandravanshi (22), and Rajneesh Chandravanshi (23). They had left for the river with a larger group during Kharna rituals, Aaj Tak said in a report. While the bodies of two victims were recovered immediately, the third was found only on Monday morning. The Chandravanshis were native to Pokhrahai while Paswan arrived to join his in-laws for Chhath, the report added
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