BETTIAH, July 19 -- As the major rivers flowing through West Champaran receded, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Saturday recovered the bodies of two of the three people who had drowned in separate incidents in the swollen Pandai River. Meanwhile, in neighbouring East Champaran, parts of the Sugauli and Banjariya blocks remained inundated, while embankments continued to remain under threat. Confirming the recovery, Narkatiaganj Circle Officer (CO) Shaman Prakash said the bodies of Priyanka Kumari (12), a resident of Dhumnagar, and Sultan Sahil, son of Mojamill Diwan and a resident of Sofwa village in Narkatiaganj subdivision of West Champaran, had been recovered. "The search for the third missing person, Rehan Ansari, who was swept away in the Pandarai River along with Sultan Sahil while taking a bath, is still underway," the CO said, adding that the river's water level was now receding. Amid a relatively low discharge of 1.19 lakh cusecs of water from the Valmikinagar barrage, water levels in most rivers flowing through West Champaran, including the Gandak, Sikrahana, Masan and Pandai, receded, bringing partial relief to water inundated areas. "Yes, water has receded now and people who were camping on the safer places have moved to their respective places. A medical team also visited the villages for examination," said Nandlal Ram, circle officer (CO), Madhubani, adding the water is still in the low lying areas especially in the agriculture land. However, water from the Sikrahana River inundated low-lying areas of Ward No. 1 in Bishpurwa and Nimui villages in East Champaran's Sagauli block, allegedly due to a space left open for a sluice gate, to be constructed by flood control department, near Sagauli, while pressure was noticed on zamindari bundh at Lal Parasa in Sagauli block and some other places in Banjariya block were noticed. "Efforts are on to plug the open space for sluice gate with sand bags," said Arun Kumar, sub divisional magistrate (SDM), Motihari (sadar), referring to the sluice gate, a movable barrier or valve used to regulate the flow of water in channels, rivers, canals, or dams. The SDM said the pressure of water was also noticed at zamindari bundh at Lal Parasa in Sagauli block and at some places by Sikarahana river in Banjariya block. "Steps are being taken to fortify the spot with sand bags," he added. In Sangrampur, known to be a flood prone area being situated along the Gandak river, and Patahi block in Pakaridayal subdivision, the water situated is stated to be under control....