Patna: A 14-year-old schoolgirl drowned in the Punpun river in Patna after slipping into a deep pit caused by illegal sand mining. The incident occurred while the girl, a sixth-grade student at Madhyamik Vidyalaya Deoria, was washing clothes with two friends near Deoria village in the Paliganj subdivision.
The victim, Sulekha Kumari, daughter of Ramakant Yadav, lost her footing and fell into a deep water-filled pit created by ongoing unauthorized sand extraction using heavy machinery. Villagers rushed to the scene after hearing the friends’ cries for help and informed local police.
The State Disaster Response Force recovered the body the following morning and sent it to the Paliganj subdivision hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Locals expressed anger over the frequent illegal sand mining in the Punpun river, blaming the administration for failing to take action despite multiple past incidents that have claimed children’s lives.
A police official confirmed that a case under the Unnatural Death (UD) section has been registered, and further legal steps are underway.
