5 CHILDREN DIE IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS IN LATEHAR

Five children were killed and four were injured in two separate incidents under Balumath and Manika police station areas of Latehar district on Sunday, officials said.

All the deceased children were below the age of twelve years.

In the first incident, two brothers and their cousin drowned in a dam when they went for bathing and fishing. The incident took place at Balu village under Balumath police station.

The deceased were identified as Chandan (12) and Pankaj (10) and their cousin Rupesh (12).

“One of them started drowning and the two others tried to save him. They also drowned in the process. Other boys alerted villagers about the incident but by the time they were rescued, they died,” said one of their relatives.

Balumath SDPO Ajeet Kumar said, “They might have entered deep water while taking bath. The police retrieved the bodies and sent them for postmortem examination.”

He said, “The family will be provided help as per government norms.”

In the second incident, two children of a family died when lightning struck them.

Four other children, including two from the same family, were also injured. The incident occurred at Sadhwadih village under Manika police station area.

According to the family members, the six children were out in a nearby orchard.

“Suddenly, it started raining and lightning struck them when took shelter under a mango tree. Two of them died on the spot, while the rest were injured,” said a local.

Soon after the incident, the injured children were taken to Manika community health centre for treatment.

The deceased were identified as Karan (12) and Pankaj Singh (9).

Former Manika legislature Harikrishna Singh demanded immediate payment of compensation as per the state government’s norms to the aggrieved family.