At least 46 people, including 37 children, have drowned while celebrating a Hindu festival in eastern India, a local government official told on Thursday.
The 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.
“People ignored danger water levels in rivers as well as ponds while bathing to celebrate this festival,” said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The drownings occurred from Tuesday across 15 districts of Bihar state as devotees marked the “Jitiya Parv”, a Hindu festival, observed by mothers for the wellbeing of their children.
Authorities were working to recover three other bodies, the official said.
Deadly 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.
The monsoon is vital for agriculture and therefore for the livelihoods of millions of farmers.
More 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.
