RANCHI: Four teenage girls, who had gone to the pond to bring sand for the harvest festival Karma Puja, died due to drowning in Jharkhand's Giridih on Tuesday.
According to police, they died while taking a bath before the ritual was to be performed for Karma puja at Pethiyatand village under Pachamba police station area, around 6 km from the district headquarters in Giridih.
According to police, all of them were between the age group of 12 years to 15 years. The girls who died were identified as Mamta Kumari (15), Divya Kumari (12), Shrishthi Kumari (12), and Sandhya Kumari (14).
“A group of girls from Handadih village had gone to bring clay and sand from the nearby Pethiyatand village pond for the Karma festival. Before collecting clay and sand, five girls entered the pond to take a bath during which, one of the girls slipped into the deep water. In the course of saving her four others were also drowned,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanjay Rana.
The fifth girl, however, was rescued safely by villagers and admitted to Sadar Hospital in a critical condition, he added.
According to Rana, having seen them drowning, other girls present there raised an alarm and the villagers reached the spot immediately, but four girls had already died before being fished out by the locals.