Chhath puja turns into tragedy: Five-year-old girl dies after falling into hot kheer vessel in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar

The girl fell into a vessel of hot kheer prepared by her grandfather on Chhath puja in a village of Kushinagar district.

Kushinagar: Elderly Prem Sagar Ojha Bhandari was busy in the arrangements to serve the desi pudding 'kheer' to feast on the occasion of Chhath Puja in Gram Sabha Rampur in Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. Little did he know that he will have to lose his little granddaughter to the pudding. In a tragic incident, the five-year-old girl died after she fell into a large vessel of hot kheer in the village.

Locals said that a grand celebration was going on on the culmination of Chhath Puja at the house of Ashok Yadav, son of Nathu Yadav, resident of Gram Sabha Rampur Bagaha Ojha Tola of the police station area. To celebrate the festival, relatives were invited for food on Tuesday. An official said that one Prem Sagar Ojha Bhandari of the village who prepared the food was standing near the kheer vessel preparing the sweet dish.

Meanwhile, his five-year-old granddaughter Kavya arrived and started asking his grandfather to eat kheer. Seeing the granddaughter's insistence on eating the kheer, the grandfather removed the lid of the pot so that the kheer would cool down quickly. As the little girl was standing near the pot, her grandfather became preoccupied with some other work leaving Kavya near the pot.

It is learnt that Kavya slipped into the pot of kheer leading to burnt injuries to her. Her grandfather pulled out the girl after which the family members hurriedly took her to the Community Health Center of Kaptanganj. At the PHC, the doctors, after giving first aid to Kavya referred her to the District Hospital, Padrauna where Kavya died during treatment, an official said.

The family members have been inconsolable since the incident. The tragic incident has caused a wave of shock and grief and turned the Chhath Puja celebrations into mourning.