BIRGUNJ: Terror has gripped people in Satbariya village of Pokhariya Municipality-4 in Parsa district after the death of as many as 26 persons within a span of two months.

The locals are going to conduct a Bhagawat Puran Mahayagya, a grand religious function involving worships and prayers, in mid-February to "control further deaths."

People, worried after a mysterious increase in the death rate, have decided to organise the Mahayagya to stop such untoward incidents in the future, informed Rajeshwor Thakur of Pokhariya-4.

Meanwhile, the Parsa District Public Health Office has already sent a team led by Health Officer Raj Kishor Chaurisiya for the investigation.

During a door-to-door observation, the DPHO team found that all the death incidents were independent and not related to each other, Chausasiya said.

He informed that some died of aging while others succumbed to various health issues.

Similarly, Dr Saroj Chaurasiya, Medical Superintendent of the District Hospital, said that the deaths, one after another, are just a coincidence.

"It's nothing more than that," he added.

In the preliminary phase of investigation, they did not find any symptom of any infectious disease, informed the doctor.

However, awareness programmes should be launched to stop the terror amid the people, he suggested.