New Delhi. Amidst the preparations for Chhath, the great festival of folk faith, a painful news has come out from Bhagalpur. Four children died due to drowning in the Ganga river while building Chhath Ghat in Navtolia village of Ismailpur police station area of Navgachia sub-division. This heartbreaking incident has created a wave of mourning in the entire area.
According to the information, on Monday afternoon some children of the village had come to the banks of Ganga to prepare Chhath Ghat. After cleaning and decorating the ghat, all four children started bathing in the river. During this time a child suddenly went into deep water. To save him, the other three children also entered the river, but all of them were swept away by the strong current and drowned in the water.
Hearing the noise, the local people somehow pulled everyone out with the help of divers and were immediately taken to Ismailpur Hospital. However, after investigation, doctors declared all four dead. The deceased have been identified as Prince Kumar (11), son of Mithilesh Kumar, resident of Navatolia village, and Nandan Kumar (10), son of Kishori Mandal. The other two children are said to be residents of nearby Chhaththu Tola.
As soon as information about the incident was received, Ismailpur police station reached the spot and interrogated the family members. At the same time, independent candidate from Gopalpur, Gopal Mandal also reached the hospital and met the bereaved families and expressed condolences. There is chaos in the houses of the dead. Mothers kept crying while clinging to the dead bodies of their children. The happiness of Chhath has turned into mourning and silence has spread in the entire village. Local people have demanded from the administration that security arrangements should be increased at the ghats and concrete arrangements should be made to prevent such incidents.