People drowned in separate incidents in Bihar while bathing in rivers and ponds for \u201cJitiya Parv\u201d festival
\n PATNA
\nAt least 46 people, including 37 children, have drowned while celebrating a Hindu festival in eastern India, a local government official told AFP on Thursday.
\nThe victims drowned in separate incidents in Bihar state while ritually bathing in rivers and ponds swollen by recent flooding, an official from the Bihar Disaster Management Department told AFP.
\n\u201cPeople ignored danger water levels in rivers as well as ponds while bathing to celebrate this festival,\u201d said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
\nThe drownings occurred from Tuesday across 15 districts of Bihar state as devotees marked the \u201cJitiya Parv\u201d, a Hindu festival, observed by mothers for the wellbeing of their children.
\nAuthorities were working to recover three other bodies, the official said.
\nThe state government has announced compensation to each of the victim\u2019s families, he said.
\nDeadly incidents are common at places of worship during major religious festivals in India, the biggest of which prompt millions of devotees to make pilgrimages to holy sites.
\nIndia is hit by torrential rains and flash floods each year during the monsoon season.
\nThe monsoon is vital for agriculture and therefore for the livelihoods of millions of farmers.
\nBut it is also responsible for widespread destruction each year in the form of landslides and floods that kill hundreds of people across South Asia.
\nMore than 200 people were killed in the southern Indian state of Kerala in July when torrential monsoon downpours caused landslides that buried tea plantations under tonnes of rock and soil. Experts say climate change is increasing the number of extreme weather events around the world, with damming, deforestation and development projects in India exacerbating the human toll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People drowned in separate incidents in Bihar while bathing in rivers and ponds for \u201cJitiya Parv\u201d festival PATNA At least 46 people, including 37 children, have drowned while celebrating a Hindu festival in eastern India, a local government official told AFP on Thursday. The victims drowned in separate incidents in Bihar state while ritually bathing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-433723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n