PATNA: Chhath preparations turned into a tragedy in Mirzapur village under Didarganj police station limits on Sunday after three teenagers drowned in the Punpun river while preparing to decorate a Chhath ghat.The victims were identified as Suraj Kumar (15), son of Vijay Kumar Sharma; Yash Raj (14), son of Prince Kumar; and Aditya Kumar (16), son of Sudhir Kumar. All three belonged to Mirzapur village.According to local residents, the teenagers had gone to the river to help decorate the ghat ahead of the evening araghya when they accidentally drowned. News of the incident spread quickly, drawing villagers and family members to the riverbank. The tragedy plunged the village into grief.The incident occurred at a time when households were busy preparing for the festival. Families had been making thekua, arranging fruits and other puja materials, and preparing dauras for the rituals.Meanwhile, villagers raised questions over the alleged delay in the arrival of rescue teams. They claimed that Didarganj police were informed about the incident but reached the spot nearly an hour later. According to them, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was alerted around 2 pm but arrived at approximately 4.15 pm.Responding to the allegations, Didarganj SHO Sunil Kumar said the police received information about the incident at around 1.30 pm and immediately dispatched two vehicles to the spot. He said the rescue team, however, took longer to arrive as it had to arrange and transport its equipment.“The SDRF team arrived at around 4pm as it had to load and bring the necessary equipment,” the SHO told this newspaper.He also clarified that the site where the incident occurred was not a designated Chhath ghat. The stretch of water connected to the Punpun river was not among the officially listed ghats, and there was no previous record of Chhath Puja being performed there. Some local residents had planned to observe the festival at the location this year. According to the SHO, the teenagers entered the river but apparently did not know how to swim and drowned.Kumar said the bodies had not been recovered yet and that the NDRF team was involved in the rescue operation.
