Girl drowns, 2 missing during bath in Ganga in Saran

Patna: An 18-year-old girl drowned while two others went missing during a holy bath in the Ganga on the occasion of Ram Navami at Ganiyari Ganga ghat under Desri police station area of Saran district on Friday morning. The deceased was identified as Seema Kumari, daughter of late Ritthu Rai.

According to police, the incident occurred around 7am when a group of women and girls from Nayagaon Bariyarpur village entered the river to take a dip on the occasion of Ram Navami. Five of them were swept into deep waters. However, people present at the ghat managed to rescue three, but Seema had already drowned.

Following the incident, a large crowd gathered at the spot and informed the Desri police. Local divers, boatmen and state disaster response force (SDRF) teams launched a search operation, but Soni Kumari (19), Seema’s sister, and Anchal Kumari (21), daughter of Upendra Rai, were missing.

Desri block development officer Praveen Kumar and SHO Abhishek Kumar also reached the spot after receiving information. “Seema’s body was handed over to her family after post-mortem at Hajipur sadar hospital. The others are feared to have drowned in the strong current of the Ganga, and efforts are on to recover their bodies,” the SHO said.