Three girls of same family died due to drowning in Bilaspur

In a painful accident in Bilaspur, three daughters of the same house died due to drowning in the Arpa river. It has been alleged that due to sand mining, there are big pits in the river. Girls have died due to drowning in these pits.

Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh): Three girls of the same family were drowned when they went to bathe in Arpa river in the Sendri area of the Koni police station limits in Chhattisgarh on Monday morning. The SDRF team that was pressed to action immediately has recovered the bodies of the girls.

"Police received the information the drowning of the girls and two teams - one from the police and another from SDRF reached the spot immediately. The bodies have been recovered and they have been sent for post mortem. Once the report comes in we will be able to say the exact cause of the death," an investigating officer of Koni police station said.

The incident occurred around 10 am when the three sisters went to take a bath in the river. According to eyewitnesses they found the three girls struggling in deep water. People nearby jumped into the river and tried to save them but it was in vain. "How they went into the deep water is difficult to perceive. It might chance that they were swept away by the current or they might have stuck into a pothole caused by illegal mining," a local resident said.

People immediately informed the local police station an the SDRF team was pressed into action. After a prolonged search the divers of the disaster management team were able to scoop the bodied out of the water leaving the family members in a state of shock and distress. Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

The deceased were identified as Pooja Patel (18), Ritu Patel (14) and Dhaneshwari Patel (11). After the death of the girls, there was a a pall of gloom in the village. Agitated people blocked the roads by keeping the bodies on the road alleging that the girls have become a victim of potholes.

According to the villagers several potholes created because of illegal sand mining lie open on the riverbed due and these underwater open pits occasionally become death traps for people who go to bathe or catch fish. There is every possibility that these three girls of the same family drowned in these pits. A similar incident occurred in the Rajsamand district of Rajasthan where four children, including three girls, drowned. The deceased went to the nearby pond to swim, but they never returned.