New Delhi
\nAt least 46 people, including 37 children, drowned in the Indian state of Bihar while bathing with their mothers in rivers to observe the Hindu festival of Jivitputrika, local disaster management authorities said on Friday.
\nThe three-day festival, also known as Jitiya, which started on Wednesday is focused on the health and prosperity of children. Celebrated mainly in eastern India, it includes a strict fast, during which mothers go without any food or water for 24 hours.
\nThey break the fast after taking a ritual dip in a river \u2014 often with their children.
\nThis year, many rivers in Bihar have been swollen by recent floods and heavy monsoon rains. \u201cIt was a Jitiya festival and people went to the rivers to take baths in different places. Young kids in the age group of eight, nine, ten, they also go to take bath with their mothers.
\n\u201cDuring this process, something went wrong, and the accidents took place,\u201d Nadeemul Ghaffar Siddiqui, joint secretary of the Disaster Management Authority in Bihar, told Arab News.
\nThe incidents were reported in nearly half of Bihar\u2019s districts.
\n\u201cThere are 46 deaths, most of them being youngsters in the age group of 8 to 17, and there are also seven women,\u201d Ghaffar said.
\n\u201cThe Bihar government has given compensation to 20 families and the compensation amount is 4 lakh rupees ($4,800).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi At least 46 people, including 37 children, drowned in the Indian state of Bihar while bathing with their mothers in rivers to observe the Hindu festival of Jivitputrika, local disaster management authorities said on Friday. The three-day festival, also known as Jitiya, which started on Wednesday is focused on the health and prosperity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-433973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n