Bihar: 46 drown during 'well-being' festival, 37 were children
At least 46 people, including 37 children, drowned in separate incidents across Bihar over the last 24 hours during the celebration of the "Jivitputrika" festival. The state government reported these tragic events from at least 15 districts, inclduing East and West Champaran, Aurangabad, Kaimur, Buxar, Siwan, Rohtas, Saran, Patna, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, and Gopalganj. During the Jivitputrika festival, women fast and take holy dips in rivers and ponds for their children's well-being.
Search operations continue as death toll may rise
The state Disaster Management Department (DMD) confirmed that 43 bodies have been recovered so far, with search operations still underway. Aurangabad District Magistrate Srikant Shastri stated that these unfortunate events occurred when the victims accompanied their family members for a holy dip in water bodies. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced a compensation of ₹4 lakh for the next of kin of those who died. The state government department confirmed that eight victim families have already received this compensation.
District-wise breakdown of drowning incidents
The district-wise breakdown of the incidents revealed that at least eight children drowned in Aurangabad district alone. This was followed by four each in Itahat village in Baruna and Kushaha village of Madanpur. The "Jivitputrika" festival, also known as "Jitiya," is primarily celebrated by women from Bihar, Jharkhand, and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Nepal.
