Four girls died by drowning in Jharkhand's Palamu

The bodies of four minor girls were recovered from a pond behind their school late on Thursday night. The police have started an investigation into this case.

Palamu (Jharkhand):In a tragic incident, at least four minor girls died by drowning in Jharkhand's Palamu. The incident took place in Sarja under the Ramgarh police station area in the Palamu district on Thursday. According to official sources, the bodies of the deceased minor girls were recovered late Thursday night from a pond behind their school and sent for post-mortem at Medinirai Medical College and Hospital.

Officials said that on Thursday morning the girls, all studying in LKG went to Nilambar Pitambar School in Sarja but did not return till evening. The family members started looking for them. During their search, it was found that the girls were last spotted near a pond behind their school.

The family members informed the local police about the incident who rushed to the spot and began investigation. The dead bodies of the girls were recovered from the pond late at night.

Confirming the incident, Ramgarh police station in-charge Prabhat Ranjan Rai said, "The girls, aged between five to eight years, all residents of Uldanda panchayat did not return home from school. After conducting a search in the area, their bodies were recovered from a pond behind their school."

Rai said, "The deceased were identified as eight-year-old Aradhna Kumari, five-year-old Chhaya Khaka, six-year-old Salmi Kumari and another girl." Police are probing all the angles in this case including how the girls reached the pond. The police teams will again visit the incident site on Friday to investigate further, Rai added.