Seven children drown in a roadside ditch in Bihar's Saran district

CHHAPRA (BIHAR): At least seven children belonging to Nat community drowned in a roadside ditch filled with rainwater at Doila village in Saran district, around 60 km north of the state capital, on Sunday.
Police said that the bodies of seven children, aged about 8 to 10 years, were fished out and sent to Sadar hospital at Chhapra, the district headquarters of Saran, for post mortem.However, two others were rescued by some local residents who rushed to the spot after hearing an alarm raised by the victims.
The tragedy happened around 12.30pm when 9 children of the village had gone to take a bath in the ditch filled with rainwater. Some of them slipped into deep water causing panic among others. In the meantime, a portion of mud caved in leading to drowning of seven children.
While three victims were rushed to the Masarakh primary health centre (PHC), four others were taken to the Hisuapur PHC where the doctors declared them brought dead.
The victims were identified as Suraj Nat (8), Bitu Nat (10), Chandan Nat (10), Timan Nat (8), Arjun Nat (10), Raja Nat (9) and Saytam Nat (10). A big crowd assembled at the site after the news spread in the area. The police had a tough time in dealing with the rush of the visitors.
The station house officer (SHO) of Hisuapur police station Rupesh Kumar Verma said that the bodies of the seven children were handed over to their families after autopsy. The list of the deceased has already been submitted to the senior police and administrative officials, he added.
The relatives of the victims demanded adequate compensation from the state government. On getting information, Saran superintendent of police Hari Kishore Rai visited the spot and pacified the protestors.
Sources said that the relatives of the deceased created a scene in the premises of the Chhapra sadar hospital to press for the payment of compensation. Birendra Nat, who lost his 10-year-old son Arjun Nat, said, “We are poor and survive on begging. The government should pay compensation to all those, who lost their members in the tragedy.”