Two minor girls drowned in the Atrayee river in South Dinajpur after they walked into the river to immerse a Kali idol that they had made of paper late on Monday afternoon.
Two other children — a boy and a girl — who got into the river with them were rescued by bystanders.
Sources said that four children of Dhadolpara, a village under the Ramkrishnapur panchayat in Kumarganj block of South Dinajpur, had made a Kali idol with paper and worshipped it. In the afternoon, they went to immerse the idol in the Atrayee.
“Soon after they got into the river, all four slipped into the water. Some bystanders spotted them but could rescue only two of them. Unfortunately, the other two could not be traced,” said villager Ratan Sarkar.
As the news spread, a Kumarganj police team went to the spot. Divers and residents recovered the bodies of Isha Sarkar, 9, and Monty Sarkar, 11. The bodies were sent to the district hospital in Balurghat for post-mortem.
Isha studied in Class III and Monty in Class IV.
“The incident has shocked the village. Many children play on the riverbank, but we never thought such a tragedy could happen,” said villager Manasi Das.