Six children drown in two separate incidents

The bodies of six minor children, including four girls, have been fished out from water-filled ditches in separate incidents in Samastipur and Katihar districts of Bihar, police said today.

In the first incident, three children including a girl drowned in a water-filled ditch at Koluara village in Samastipur district today, police said.

Kalyanpur police station SHO Madhurendra Kishore said that the deceased have been identified as Muskan Kumari (10), Rakesh Kumar (9) and Amit Kumar (7).

The bodies have been sent to Sadar hospital for post-mortem, the SHO said.

In another incident, the bodies of three minor girls were fished out of a ditch this morning in Kutubpur village of Katihar district, a police officer said.

It seems the three girls, two siblings and their cousin, fell into the ditch, which was filled to the brim with rainwater, on their way to home from school, the sub-inspector of Manihari police station, Sunil Kumar, said.

"As there was no human habitation in the area, no one noticed the girls. Their parents had been looking for them since last evening. This morning, the bodies were found floating on the river," he said.

The deceased have been identified as Simran Khatoon (7), Ruksana Khatoon (9) and their cousin Nargis (8), he said, adding that bodies have been sent to Katihar Sadar Hospital for post-mortem.