By PC Bureau
More than 60 people are reported to have died due to drowning or boat capsizes, with several others still missing across various rivers, canals, and ponds in Bihar during the Chhath festivities on Thursday and Friday, according to local media in Patna.
Hindustan reports that ten people drowned in Samastipur, seven in Begusarai, and five in Patna. The tragedy struck hardest in Rohtas, where four members of a family drowned in the Sone River. Other districts such as Munger, Bhojpur, and Saran also witnessed several drownings due to boat capsizes and accidents.
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However, the state’s disaster management department has confirmed only 13 deaths. Umesh Kumar, monitoring and evaluation expert at the department, stated, “A total of 13 people drowned across Bihar, and three are still missing during the Chhath festival. We have received reports of two deaths each from Begusarai, Rohtas, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, and Munger districts. Three people are missing in Munger, Araria, and Rohtas districts.”
Rohtas district saw multiple tragedies over 24 hours. In one incident, four members of a family from Pathara village in Tilouthu slipped into the Sone River during the Chhath rituals. Three—Pintu Yadav (35), his son Bablu (12), and his younger brother Sukhadi (31)—drowned, while another family member, Vikas Yadav, was rescued by locals. Their bodies were later retrieved by a state disaster response force team.
In another tragic event in Rohtas, a five-year-old boy drowned in a village pond on Friday morning. In Munger district, three people drowned while performing Chhath rituals along the Ganga, and one person went missing. One of the missing was 20-year-old Abhishek Kumar, who disappeared near Jamalpur. Other incidents included the drowning of 12-year-old Prince Kumar from Durmatta village at a Chhath ghat, 16-year-old Sunny Kumar at Tahua Pond, and 9-year-old Sheetal Kumari in the Belharni River.
