Drowning kills scores, mostly children, in Province 2 every year. Authorities don’t care

On September 21, 2021, three drowning cases were reported in the Saptarai district of Province 2. The incidents took place in different places as Alija Kumari Chaudhary (3), Sabana Khatun (12), and Lakshan Kumari Sada (30) died drowning in three ponds of the district. The following day, September 22, five-year-old Shivani Mandal drowned near Mahadev rural municipality of the district.

A few months ago, on June 11, a major incident happened in the district when five young girls drowned a newly dug pond in Mukhiyapatti. Laxmi Niya Yadav (12), Chandra Kumari Bhagat (10), Manju Purve (13), Chandani Thakur (12), and Lalita Sahani (12) died falling in the pond. They had entered the water to take a bath as their goats grazed at a field nearby.