RAUTAHAT, OCTOBER 13
Three teenage girls from Rajdevi Municipality, Rautahat, drowned while swimming in a flooded field along the Nepal–India border on Monday morning.
According to police, the victims, Aastha Kumari Baitha (13), daughter of Indal Baitha; Ragini Yadav (15), daughter of Kamal Kumar Yadav; and Mausami Kumari Baitha (15), daughter of Rupan Baitha, had gone to Gaur Municipality–1 with six other girls to collect grass. Around 10:30 am, the group began swimming in rainwater accumulated in the area, when three of them went missing.
Local residents, along with personnel from the District Police Office, Armed Police Force, Nepal Army, and Customs Security, immediately launched a search and rescue operation. After nearly an hour, all three girls were found and rushed to the Provincial Hospital in Gaur, where doctors pronounced them dead upon examination, confirmed Superintendent of Police Netramani Giri.
Their bodies have been kept at the hospital for postmortem.
Authorities have expressed sorrow over the incident, stating that water-filled pits and ditches along the border area have become hazardous for children.
Despite repeated public awareness campaigns urging parents to supervise their children, negligence continues to put young lives at risk, police said.
