Patna, Oct. 4 -- At least nine children, including four girls, have drowned in Siwan, Gopalganj and East Champaran districts of Bihar in the last three days, police said on Sunday.

Aditya Kumar and Sagar Kumar, both aged 13, drowned while bathing in Daha River in Gopalganj district on Saturday during 'Jitiya', a regional festival during which mothers pray for the long life and prosperity of their children, Mirganj police station SHO Rajeev Ranjan Singh said.

In another incident, 12-year-old Manita Kumari drowned while bathing in Tilawe River in Rohinia village under the jurisdiction of Banjaria police station in East Champaran district around 4 pm on Saturday.

Several people were bathing there on the occasion of the festival when three girls slipped into deep waters. A woman threw her sari and managed to rescue two of them, but Manita Kumari was swept into deeper waters, officials said.

The girl's body was found on Sunday afternoon and sent to Motihari Sadar Hospital for post-mortem, they added.

On Friday, three youths drowned in Khadwa Canal, also in Banjaria police station area, when they went there to celebrate a friend's birthday.

The deceased were identified as Shamir Alam (17), Shakeel Ansari (17) and Yashraj (16), all residents of Chailaha Taal.

Banjaria Circle Officer Krishna Pratap Singh said six youths went to the spot on motorcycles around 3 pm and after the birthday cake was cut, three of them entered the water to take a bath.

The three could not gauge the depth due to the flood situation and drowned in the deep waters of the canal, he added.

Police recovered the bodies and, after post-mortem, handed the mortal remains to their families.

Singh said the next of kin of the boys have been provided cheques under the Disaster Management Department's assistance scheme, while proceedings were underway in the girl's case.

In yet another incident, three girls -- Anshu Kumari (14), Anisha Kumari (16) and Anjali Kumari (16) -- drowned in a pond in Rampur village of Siwan district on Saturday evening.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.