Ballia,

03 May (HS): Four individuals, including a young girl, drowned in the Ganga

river during a'mundan' ritual in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday, according to

authorities. Family members and relatives of Vashishth Chauhan, a native of

Kalyanipur village in the Phephna police station district, had assembled at the

ghat for the event. According to Superintendent of Police Omvir Singh, at

approximately 7.30 a.m., four people were bathing in the river after conducting

rites. During this moment, a teenage girl slipped while snapping a selfie with

her phone and began drowning. Three others attempted to rescue her but were

washed away, he added.

After

a search operation in the afternoon, local fisherman and a fire department crew

retrieved the remains of Harshita Chauhan (17), Arun Chauhan (20), Nandita

Chauhan (21) and Arjun Chauhan (19) from the river. The corpses of the dead

have been transported for postmortem testing, according to the police.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi