New Delhi: At least 46 people, including 37 children, drowned in the Indian state of Bihar while bathing with their mothers in rivers to observe the Hindu festival of Jivitputrika, local disaster management authorities said on Friday.
The three-day festival, also known as Jitiya, which started on Wednesday is focused on the health and prosperity of children. Celebrated mainly in eastern India, it includes a strict fast, during which mothers go without any food or water for 24 hours.
They break the fast after taking a ritual dip in a river — often with their children.
This year, many rivers in Bihar have been swollen by recent floods and heavy monsoon rains.
“It was a Jitiya festival and people went to the rivers to take baths in different places. Young kids in the age group of eight, nine, ten, they also go to take bath with their mothers.
“During this process, something went wrong, and the accidents took place,” Nadeemul Ghaffar Siddiqui, joint secretary of the Disaster Management Authority in Bihar, told Arab News.
The incidents were reported in nearly half of Bihar’s districts.
“There are 46 deaths, most of them being youngsters in the age group of 8 to 17, and there are also seven women,” Ghaffar said.
“The Bihar government has given compensation to 20 families and the compensation amount is 4 lakh rupees ($4,800).”
