Five children drown in pond, CM announces ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh

Aurangabad: Five children drowned in a pond in Bihar’s Aurangabad district on Thursday, officials said.

The incident took place on Thursday afternoon when they went to take a bath in the pond in Sonarchak village in Salaiya police station area after celebrating Raksha Bandhan.

The deceased have been identified as Shubham (11), Neeraj Kumar (12), Dheeraj (10), Prince (12) and Amit (12). All of them were residents of Sonarchak village.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar condoled the deaths and announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 4 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased.

Aurangabad Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Vijayant said, “According to the villagers, after getting ‘rakhi’ tied by their sisters, the five children went to take a bath in the pond. Some people heard some noise from the side of the pond. When they went there, they found that the five children had drowned. By the time the children were pulled out, they were already dead.”

Alleging that the police reached the spot very late, angry locals blocked the main road of the village. Later, they were dispersed by the law enforcers.