PATNA: A total of 30 people, including 18 children, died in separate incidents of wall collapse, stampede and drowning in different parts of Bihar during the ‘Chhath’ festival that concluded on Sunday, police said.
Two women were killed in a wall collapse, two children died during a stampede while 26 others, including 16 children, drowned in different districts of the state since Saturday.
The two women who observed the Chhath rituals died and four others were injured when a portion of the wall of a Kali temple collapsed this morning at Badgaon village in Samastipur district.
The wall collapsed around 6.30 am, when the devotees were preparing to leave the ghat after offering 'arghya’, Hasanpur police station SHO Chandrakant Gauri said.
The injured devotees have been admitted to Hasanpur primary health centre, he said. In another incident, two children aged seven years and four years were killed in a stampede that took place near Suryakund at Deo block in the evening, Aurangabad District Magistrate Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal said.
Official sources said the stampede occurred as the turnout at Deo’s Surya temple for Chhath Puja was “beyond the expectation” of the local administration.