Chhath tragedy: 19 killed in Bihar

PATNA: At least 19 persons died in separate incidents during Chhath in the state since Saturday evening. While three persons died in a temple wall collapse beside a pond in Samastipur on Sunday morning, two children were crushed to death near Deo Surya Kund in Aurangabad during evening arghya on Saturday. More than 12 lakh people had gathered near the famous Deo Sun Temple to offer arghya.More than a dozen people were injured in both the incidents.
In other Chhath related incidents, at least 14 other persons drowned, including one at Bakhtiyarpur and two at Gaurichak in Patna, one each at Raghopur, Jandaha and Lalganj in Vaishali, one each at Bena in Nalanda, Dalsinghsarai in Samastipur, Sahar in Bhojpur, Khaira in Jamui and two at Sahebpur Kamal in Begusarai district.
In Samastipur, the deceased were identified as Bucchi Devi (55) and Neela Devi (53) of the same family and Kokai Yadav (55). The temple is located at Badgaon under Hassanpur police station area. Hassanpur SHO Chandrakant Gauri told TOI that the wall collapsed at 6.45am when a large number of devotees had gathered at the temple for Chhath. At least seven other devotees were injured. “They were rushed to Hassanpur primary health centre for treatment,” he said.
Hassanpur circle officer Anand Chandra Jha said the temple wall was perhaps weak and collapsed as it was near the water body. “Eyewitnesses said it was heavy goddess idol which fell on the wall behind it. After that, the entire wall and part of the ground caved into the pond,” he said. “An ex gratia of Rs4 lakh each was paid to the next of kin of the deceased women. However, postmortem report of Yadav was awaited to ascertain whether he died in the accident or due to any natural cause,” he said.
The deceased in the Deo stampede were identified as Khusi Kumar (6) and Prince Kumar (2), according to circle officer Arun Kumar Gupta. They were crushed to death at Chaurasia Chauraha in front of Deo Surya Kund, he said.
“DM Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal and other senior officers were present near the spot at the time of stampede. There was unexpected turnout of around 15 lakh people and most of them started taking exit routes other than the pre-decided paths, leading to commotion. At least three injured are undergoing treatment at Sadar hospital,” he said.
Khusi belonged to Dahiya under Paliganj police station area in Patna district while Prince was a native of Khaira Kharwasi under the Sahar police station area in Bhojpur district. Gupta said ex gratia payment would be made to the bereaved families within a couple of days.
(With inputs from Premendra Mishra in Aurangabad)