A 16-year-old girl, identified as Sonakshi Kumari, drowned after being swept away by the strong current of the Damodar River during a ritual bath for the Jitiya festival at Mohalbani Ghat under Sudamdih police station on Friday.
According to Sudamdih officer-in-charge Akrist Aman, family members of Ashok Mali, a resident of Rasulbagh near Lodna More, had reached the ghat to take part in the bathing ritual associated with ʻNahay Khay’ of Jitiya. Some youths and teenagers from the family, including Sonakshi, went deeper into the river. She suddenly began drowning and was swept away by the current. Sonakshi’s maternal uncle jumped into the river in an attempt to rescue her but also began to drown. Local villagers managed to pull him to safety using a bamboo pole, which he grabbed before being brought to the bank. Locals said the Damodar was in spate following recent heavy rains and had a strong current, raising the possibility that the girl’s body may have been swept downstream. Gaffar Ansari, representative of Dhanbad MP Dhullu Mahato for the Jharia region, visited the site and said such incidents occur during ritual baths in the Damodar. He stressed the need for barricading, security arrangements and trained divers at dangerous locations. Police deployed trained divers from Moonidih for the search, but the body had not been recovered till the filing of the report. “We have asked the district administration to send a requisition for NDRF personnel to search for the body,” Aman said.
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