Six students drown in Lotwa Dam in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh

The tragedy occurred around 11 am on Tuesday. Six bodies were fished out and sent to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College for post-mortem, the police said on Tuesday.

Hazaribagh (Jharkhand): Six students of Intermediate met with a watery grave in Lotwa Dam situated 15 km from Hazaribagh town in Jharkhand on Tuesday. The students instead of attending classes at a school went to the dam to take a bath leading to the tragedy.

The deceased have been identified as Rajnish Pandey, Sumit Kumar, Mayank Singh, Praveen Gope, Ishan Singh and Shivsagar Singh. The students were in the age group of 17 to 18 years. The tragedy occurred around 11 am in the dam. Six bodies were fished out and sent to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College for post-mortem, SP Manoj Ratan Chothe said.

The students left their homes in uniform on Tuesday morning, but did not attend classes, and instead, went to the dam. Nearly 18 students of Class 12 were found absent, said the principal of the school.

Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan and Chief Minister Hemant Soren condoled the demise of students. "It is very sad and painful to know about the drowning of six children in Lotwa Dam of Hazaribagh district. I express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families. May God give them the strength to bear this grief," Radhakrishnan said on X.

In another post on X, Soren said, "May God grant peace to the souls of the children, who died in the accident and give strength to the bereaved families to bear the grief in this difficult hour." (With agency inputs)